The other reviews here are split between admiration and boredom, and this is unsurprising, but neither attitude is quite right. The pace is slow, but the acting is generally excellent and the atmosphere intense. There is a whodunit mystery, and a lot of intelligent character exploration, and even some abstract musing about nuclear power and the environment.
It is, however, worth pointing out that this is a Dalgliesh mystery, which sets up certain expectations, with Roy Marsden's presence looming over events like an Easter Island statue in a leather jacket. These expectations are almost wholly disappointed, because Dalgliesh is irrelevant to the plot - his character could be excised from the series entirely, with remarkably little effect.
Note, there are heavy spoilers in the remainder of this review.
There are two murderers. Dalgliesh identifies neither of them. Indeed, he employs one of them. There are three suicides; he fails to prevent any of them, and even watches one take place. He counsels a former colleague, and fails to bring him out of his depression (in the end, the colleague's wife reappears and immediately gives birth to a lovely girl, which cheers him up instead). There is a terrorist plot, of which he appears to be ignorant until it is blown by an ironic accident.
Most importantly, his only official duty is to advise MI5 with respect to a nuclear power station. In the end, its head Dr Mair is promoted to become some kind of nuclear policy supremo. This is perhaps a little concerning, because there are a few question marks over Dr Mair's suitability for the post.
In particular: he murdered his father. He had affairs with two not altogether suitable women, both of whom were murdered. The first, who was blackmailing him, was murdered by his own sister, who later committed suicide. The second was an anti-nuclear campaigner working for terrorists who murdered her (but not before he had proposed to her). His secretary was also a terrorist, murdered by her bosses. His promising research assistant alerted him to the danger of a computer virus, which he brushed off, despite its turning out that the virus was potentially very deadly and could have caused the reactor to explode. So sensitively did he manage the problem that the researcher committed suicide (for reasons not altogether clear) by leaping off the reactor in front of an audience including Dalgliesh.
Now, call me a fuddy-duddy, but this chap perhaps shouldn't be running a sensitive piece of national science policy. Dalgliesh was certainly aware of most of this (only because Susannah York had extracted the family history from the sister, not through his own work), and after the fact it is hinted that he realises about Mair's affair with Amy while he is consoling Amy's boyfriend, a wet young man with alarming hair. Yet he tells no-one.
All Dalgliesh really does is find a body that would have been discovered anyway, tick off the beer-bellied sergeant every time he is politically incorrect (which is about every episode), and romance fruity Susannah York (though not so successfully as to persuade her to tell him her suspicions about the sister). He nearly dies removing a dead body from a burning building (and ruins his leather jacket). He also announces, on the basis of no evidence, that the second murderer is a woman. This is true, but hardly helpful, and he may even suspect Susannah. We never find out why he thought this, why he said it when he did, and whether he had anyone specific in mind. It is the nearest we get to detection in the story.
The only sensible person in the entire programme is young Theresa Blaney, the daughter of a feckless, combative and drunken Irish artist, whom Dalgliesh, perhaps unwisely, installs as caretaker in his inherited cottage at the end.
It is, however, worth pointing out that this is a Dalgliesh mystery, which sets up certain expectations, with Roy Marsden's presence looming over events like an Easter Island statue in a leather jacket. These expectations are almost wholly disappointed, because Dalgliesh is irrelevant to the plot - his character could be excised from the series entirely, with remarkably little effect.
Note, there are heavy spoilers in the remainder of this review.
There are two murderers. Dalgliesh identifies neither of them. Indeed, he employs one of them. There are three suicides; he fails to prevent any of them, and even watches one take place. He counsels a former colleague, and fails to bring him out of his depression (in the end, the colleague's wife reappears and immediately gives birth to a lovely girl, which cheers him up instead). There is a terrorist plot, of which he appears to be ignorant until it is blown by an ironic accident.
Most importantly, his only official duty is to advise MI5 with respect to a nuclear power station. In the end, its head Dr Mair is promoted to become some kind of nuclear policy supremo. This is perhaps a little concerning, because there are a few question marks over Dr Mair's suitability for the post.
In particular: he murdered his father. He had affairs with two not altogether suitable women, both of whom were murdered. The first, who was blackmailing him, was murdered by his own sister, who later committed suicide. The second was an anti-nuclear campaigner working for terrorists who murdered her (but not before he had proposed to her). His secretary was also a terrorist, murdered by her bosses. His promising research assistant alerted him to the danger of a computer virus, which he brushed off, despite its turning out that the virus was potentially very deadly and could have caused the reactor to explode. So sensitively did he manage the problem that the researcher committed suicide (for reasons not altogether clear) by leaping off the reactor in front of an audience including Dalgliesh.
Now, call me a fuddy-duddy, but this chap perhaps shouldn't be running a sensitive piece of national science policy. Dalgliesh was certainly aware of most of this (only because Susannah York had extracted the family history from the sister, not through his own work), and after the fact it is hinted that he realises about Mair's affair with Amy while he is consoling Amy's boyfriend, a wet young man with alarming hair. Yet he tells no-one.
All Dalgliesh really does is find a body that would have been discovered anyway, tick off the beer-bellied sergeant every time he is politically incorrect (which is about every episode), and romance fruity Susannah York (though not so successfully as to persuade her to tell him her suspicions about the sister). He nearly dies removing a dead body from a burning building (and ruins his leather jacket). He also announces, on the basis of no evidence, that the second murderer is a woman. This is true, but hardly helpful, and he may even suspect Susannah. We never find out why he thought this, why he said it when he did, and whether he had anyone specific in mind. It is the nearest we get to detection in the story.
The only sensible person in the entire programme is young Theresa Blaney, the daughter of a feckless, combative and drunken Irish artist, whom Dalgliesh, perhaps unwisely, installs as caretaker in his inherited cottage at the end.