The second series of this ITV cop drama was in many ways similar to the first. Yet again there's an unexplained murder in the neighbourhood of Morecambe Bay and even though she's been demoted for her doings in the previous series (as I remember it, deleting incriminating evidence on a murder which featured herself in flagrante-delicto with the prime suspect), it's not long before lead detective Morven Christie's Lisa Armstrong is on the case again and doing what she does, namely intuitively building up relationships with the suspects, family and friends of the murder victim as she picks up the scent. Also as before, there's equal focus on her own family life involving her mum and two children, the two big developments here being the return into her life of her roguish ex-husband and her schoolboy son becoming the twin focus of both a boy and girl. Finally, prominence is given to the breakdown of Lisa's boss's marriage which sends him into a tailspin and at one point even threatens to upset the investigation.
It all started dramatically with the shocking doorstep murder of a prominent solicitor while attending a birthday garden-party with his extended family and friends on a bright sunny day. I was surprised to see the blink-and-you-miss-him victim played by Stephen Tompkinson and kept waiting for an extended flashback bigging up his part, which didn't happen. From there, naturally, the man's family and work associates are brought into view for scrutiny and as the investigation deepens, we learn not only just how dysfunctional his family is, but also of financial motives taking in money laundering and dealings with gangsters.
Meanwhile Lisa has to also weigh up her returning ex's motives in trying to step back into the lives of her and her children, her dilemma not helped when she ends up in bed with him after an especially stressful day at work. In addition, she has to play housemaid to her boss who's hit the bottle as his own marriage hits the rocks after years of married-to-the-job neglect leads his wife towards the door.
Let down only by a miles-out-of-left-field resolution to the original murder, this was again a satisfyingly intricate story with the odd stop-in-your-tracks dramatic moment to keep the viewer interested, most notably the fate of Lisa's once junior, now senior partner on the force, Med. Christie satisfactorily leads a strong cast of familiar faces from the first run, while the wider support features well-known TV faces like Sharon Small, James Cosmo and Sunetra Sarker. With continued effective use of actual locations in and around Morecambe and the news that a series 3 is to follow, it looks like we'll all be going around the bay for some time to come.