Hidden Depths (1 May 2011)

Forthright,drink-loving Inspector Vera Stanhope and her young sergeant Joe Ashworth investigate when 15-year-old Luke Armstrong is strangled and placed in a bath strewn with flowers and ... See full summary »

Director:

Adrian Shergold

Writers:

Ann Cleeves (novel), Paul Rutman (adaptation)

Stars:

Brenda Blethyn, David Leon, Wunmi Mosaku

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Brenda Blethyn	...	DCI Vera Stanhope
David Leon	...	DS Joe Ashworth
Wunmi Mosaku	...	DC Holly Lawson
Paul Ritter	...	Billy Cartwright
Neil Armstrong	...	Gary Wright
Juliet Aubrey	...	Felicity Calvert
Craig Conway	...	Davy Sharp
Philip Correia	...	Ben Craven
Sam Fender	...	Luke Armstrong
Murray Head	...	Peter Calvert
Paul Higgins	...	Clive Stringer
Jim Kitson	...	Charlie
Peter Michael McGowan	...	Solicitor
Gina McKee	...	Julie Armstrong
Samantha Neale	...	Lily Marsh (as Sam Neale)

Storyline

Forthright,drink-loving Inspector Vera Stanhope and her young sergeant Joe Ashworth investigate when 15-year-old Luke Armstrong is strangled and placed in a bath strewn with flowers and candles. Luke's widowed mother Julie tells them that Luke's friend Tommy accidentally drowned some months earlier and initial suspicion falls on Tommy's father. But then teacher Lily Marsh is murdered, also throttled and dumped on a beach, surrounded by flowers. The body is found by a group of botanists,including husband and wife Peter and Felicity Calvert,into whose beach house Lily was due to move,and Gary Wright,a womanising friend of Julie. Lily had a sugar daddy who paid money into her account and Vera learns that Tommy had photographed her with this man and had drowned trying to save his camera when it fell into the sea. She deduces that he is rubbing out evidence of the affair and believes the lover to be Peter Calvert. But was he the killer and,if not,was it a member of his adoring coterie?

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Genres:

Crime

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Details

Release Date:

1 May 2011 (UK)

Company Credits

User Reviews

Anything Brenda Blethyn is in is well worth watching

Detective Chief Inspector Vera Stanhope is a frumpy, late middle-aged, hard working and empathetic detective who drinks too much. She's also smart and gets the job done. In this episode she and her colleagues investigate the murder of a 15 year old boy and a subsequent murder. The mystery itself was not particularly interesting and the best part of the show was in introducing us to Vera with all her flaws, strengths, regrets and fears. It's odd but one of my problems with the show was that I had a hard time at first telling apart the two leading support actresses as they looked so much alike in their dress, hair and general appearance, at least from afar. As much as I like Blethyn, I think this is the kind of series that grows on one after time and fortunately Netflix has the first four episodes so I'll be able to test this. An observation on the title of the series - why is it that there's Morse, Wycliffe, Lynley, Murdoch, Lewis, etc. but when the lead detective is a woman, the first name is used?