Liverpool sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Douglas Henshall, Alison O’ Donnell, Steven Robertson, Mark Bonnar, Lewis Howden, Erin Armstrong, Anne Kidd, Fiona Bell, Neve McIntosh, Benny Young, Juie Brown, Jimmy Chisholm, Conor McCarry, Angus Miller, Cora Bissett, Stephen McCole, Kate Bracken, Thoren Ferguson, Andy Clark, Anneika Rose, Lewis Gribben, Sharif Dorani, Shonagh Price.

A pertinent question of the times, the ambiguity of morality, and the classic example of how low someone can stoop when they look to revenge; all this against the backdrop of island life in the shadow of murder, of the slow decline of the human mind, and the tensions that run high when an island’s life is supposedly threatened by a returning, and unwanted, soul.

Shetland has always been a perfect example of the microcosm of British, indeed perhaps Scottish life, outward in its nature, rewarding in its openness, but to really understand it you have to dig deep past the granite stone picture houses and ideas of heath driven romance, and see the world through the eyes of a people who treasure their island as a sanctuary, as a living breathing entity worthy of respect, and those that cause trouble, that seek to alter the life of its people, are not welcome.

Such is the dichotomy of morality at the heart of the sixth series of the impressive detective drama that shares its name with the island to the north of the Scottish mainland, that it could be seen as one of the more progressive of tales in its now long tenure at the heart of British crime adaptations.

At the heart of the matter, the investigation, the setting is one of murder, a simple police procedure to which all who bare the stamp of detective fiction, but it is the continues frame of reference in the side story that sees Jimmy Perez, played with consummate appeal by Douglas Henshall, almost suffer under the weight of the island’s charm and dogged terrain, as the full extent of one murder brings home the possible lies of another.

This series asks the question of the time, which is worse in the eyes of the armchair detective and public alike, the desecration of the safety of the island with a seemingly random murder of a high-profile lawyer, or the ability of another, universally despised but deserving of care in their final days, to rock the foundations of the island with a manipulative lie.

Both these acts are one of fraudulent human behaviour, the taking of a life, the ruination of another, and yet they go hand in hand, for they both speak ill of the island itself.

The six-part series weaves this narration to the drama that it is barely noticeable until you step back from the action and understand the delicate understanding that a society of less than 25,000 people must have in order to survive, and it only takes one act of irrationality to upset the scales of justice.

With superb performances from Neve McIntosh, Alison O’ Donnell, Mark Bonnar, Fiona Bell, and Benny Young, stepping gently into the much-loved Bill Paterson’s shoes as Jimmy’s father, this sixth series arguably goes deeper into the veins of Jimmy Perez’s life, and how his own life, his equilibrium is tied in with that of the island.

Ian D. Hall