Lucy Punch

Transposing the Lethal Weapon template to suburban west London, the rather too knowing Vexed teams Toby Stephens and Lucy Punch as mismatched, bickering detectives. The pace, be warned, is frantic to the point of being exhausting as writer Howard Overman takes the scattergun approach to gags and quips. Get past this, though, and Vexed is actually quite promising, largely because it works so hard to come up with original scenarios. The opener deals with murders related to a supermarket loyalty scheme.

It is always suspicious when the BBC tries to sneak out a new high-profile series with a star cast in the middle of August, while many people are away. In the case of this comedy drama, the suspicion is well-founded. Toby Stephens plays Jack, a cocksure womaniser of a detective, paired with Kate (Lucy Punch), a no-nonsense blonde. The two solve crimes while trying to sort out their own personal lives and bantering with each other. There are very few laughs.