Listen out for the warnings in Sirens drama

Like Ken Stott in The Vice and Messiah, Daniela Nardini has perfected the pained expression. This involves staring into space while looking glum and frowning a lot.

It signals that her mind is in turmoil which, to be honest, is very understandable in Sirens, a psychological thriller stretched over two 90-minute episodes when a tight two hours would have been quite enough.

Nardini successfully abandoned the image of foul-mouthed Anna from This Life to play Jay Pearson, a detective constable on a rape squad, which is cause enough to make anyone look miserable.

She has other reasons - her boss, Detective Inspector Wilson (Robert Glenister), a piece of work as nasty as any of the criminals she encounters. He has a history of fancying her, turning all sweaty and aggressive when she rejects his grubby advances.

Her home life, like that of any TV cop, is a mess too. She has a sister Ali (Sarah Parish) who harbours a grudge about Jay's failure to visit their dying mother. "There's a lot of history there," someone says, with masterful understatement.

Ali also has a boyfriend, Oliver, a psychiatrist whose patients include the cardiac surgeon (Anthony Calf) who becomes prime suspect in the serial rapist case. "I don't pay you to interrogate me, I pay you to help me," shouts Calf when Oliver tries to delve into his patient's inner secrets.

Clearly, he has something to hide. Unfortunately, Oliver is too busy asking Jay for more (sex, not gruel, as his Dickens namesake requested) to notice anyone with homicidal tendencies. It's one thing to pinch your sister's clothes, but stealing her boyfriend is going too far. No wonder Ali tells Oliver: "I feel I'm low down your list of priorities".

The clues were there, as Loyd Grossman used to say on Through The Keyhole, for those who wanted to work out the solution for themselves. The conclusion, not entirely unexpected on my part, was satisfactorily tense and bloody.

Murder was also occupying the thoughts of Dalziel And Pascoe. Only the lack of a body hindered the work.

A woman in a car ran down a man and went for help, only to find the body had disappeared on her return. Never mind, there were several other corpses for the duo to investigate - a dead vicar in the woods and a 40-year-old skeleton with a broken neck.

The locals weren't too friendly, displaying Nardini-like pained expressions. "This is Yorkshire, it goes without saying," says Dalziel.