No Offence

No Offence TV review: episode seven

If there is one thing this show is proving it most certainly is not - it is predictable.

Hard-as-nails women, smart dialogue and a good dose of dark humour have become this police drama's calling cards. Tonight's installment sees DI Deering (Joanna Scanlan) on a manhunt through Manchester as she gets closer to discovering the identity of the serial killer. Few things are more fearsome than the brassy boss on your criminal tail. Meanwhile Joy (Alexandra Roach) and Spike (Will Mellor) are dealing with a violent attack on a young homeless man, which leads them to uncover a disturbing case of slavery.

Radio Times review

No one can resist the beady stare of implacable DI Viv Deering (Joanna Scanlan); just watch a hapless community police officer crumble in front of her laser beams.

The hunt for the serial murderer of women with Down's syndrome looks like it's drawing to a close in this frantic, febrile drama, until a new and deeply unpleasant line of inquiry comes to light. It's something that makes life even more uncomfortable for Viv and her sidekick Dinah (Elaine Cassidy) because it strikes too close to home.

Meanwhile thwarted Spike (Will Mellor), furious that he missed a huge detail, becomes too involved with a vulnerable, bullied young man and his boss, a thuggish scrapyard owner.

Radio Times review

An outraged suspect demands of Det Insp Viv Deering: "Are you threatening me?" To which comes the reply: "I think so." Viv and the team are called on to protect a man who's been attacked and is under siege from a howling mob.

The victim's back story is both shocking and surprising, and Everyman cop Spike (the admirable Will Mellor) looks askance, annoyed that he has to keep safe the lowest of the low.

But of course there has to be a crack in Spike's flinty exterior, and we soon see him softening and being soppy with his kids in a scene that doesn't at all fit in with No Offence's general air of brutal pragmatism.

Meanwhile, detective sergeant Joy Freers (Alexandra Roach) is gaining confidence and steadily learning to lead. "Well done, you were nearly me in there," says Viv, admiringly, after Joy conducts a particularly sharp interview.

Why female coppers are the making of No Offence

DC Kowalska is a maverick and DI Deering is a glorious monster of a boss. It just so happens, both are women.

We're at the halfway point in Paul Abbott's smart cop drama and tonight the Friday Street law enforcers are on the trail of a gang conning the hard-up into selling their kidneys on the black market. The female leads utterly make this, giving Abbott's zappy dialogue true heart and humanity. That said, if we could just pop a moratorium on dead-girl victims in all TV drama for a year, that would be great. The unending parade of throttled, hacked women in canals - continued here - needs to stop.

Radio Times review

Great crimes come to light from the most unlikely beginnings in Paul Abbott's fearsomely flinty crime drama, as Detective Constable Dinah Kowalska discovers, lurching to a stop on the drive to work - a pedestrian appears deliberately to have walked in front of a car.

But as Dinah and her team prepare to deal with the brutal realities of a sudden death when they visit the victim's family, they uncover something much bigger - an illegal trade in human organs.

Someone's targeting people in desperate debt, and persuading them that the best way to settle up is by selling their kidneys. It's a huge case with enormous implications, but the cops run straight at it, at the same time as they pursue the serial killer who's targeting women with Down's syndrome.

And the boss, Detective Inspector Viv Deering (Joanna Scanlan) has other problems when her partner turns up drunk in the cells.

Why we need more bold drama like No Offence

Creating brave TV like Paul Abbott's cop drama isn't a criminal act, says Alison Graham.

No Offence: drama almost as chilling as the real thing

The third episode of Abbott's latest creation is a riot and flashes by at breakneck speed.

Paul Abbott's police procedural continues with an episode that finds racial tensions simmering. It's all because of an attack on an Asian woman that appears to have been racially motivated. Will an undercover operation bring a suspect to justice? Meantime, DI Viv Deering (played by Joanna Scanlan as a kind of gruff-but-sensitive auntie) and her team are back on the serial killer investigation. This takes on new urgency because psychologist Dr Peep (Kate O'Flynn) thinks the murderer may strike again.