• Is this the end for Jamie Bamber in…

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Endeavour. Pic: ITV

 

Fictional series and thrillers are scarce during the holiday silly season. But broadcasters have plenty in production and are hoarding shows for September and on through autumn.

 

There are some hugely popular shows coming back, and a few intriguing new crime dramas on the way. Here's a rundown from my blog…

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Lee Child was undoubtedly the star of this weekend's Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival. Not only did he win Crime Novel of the Year for 61 Hours, but half of Yorkshire seemed to be packed into the assembly rooms at the Old Swan Hotel (where Agatha Christie hid out) to hear his Room 101 routine with journalist Christina Patterson.



His… Continue

Rating ★★★★



BBC1, Sunday, 3 July, 9pm



From CrimeTimePreview



Plot twists, multiple murders, glamorous cops – you get none of these in this serious but emotional drama.



Child trafficking and slavery is the story here, and the writer, Stephen Butchard, clearly wants you to be aware of the crime and its attendant heartache going on all round… Continue

Rating ★★★★

 

5USA, Wednesdays, 10pm

 

It's good to be tipping our Stetsons to deputy US Marshal Raylan Givens again. All the winning ingredients of series one are back in the current season of Justified on 5USA.

Timothy Olyphant is as softly-spoken and laid back as ever, though having to hold off on his notorious trigger finger, having blown away so many drug dealers, mobsters and his dad last time round. He's resolved to…

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• The Twitter-verse is a-flutter with the news that Zen is already sleeping with the fishes after just three pretty well-received episodes, thanks to the BBC's new godfather of BBC1,… Continue

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Rating ★★★



Alibi, Tuesdays, 9pm, from 15 February



The modern-day obsession with gory forensics and series such as CSI and the UK's Silent Witness is filtered into a late-Victorian makeover for Murdoch Mysteries. The setting is Toronto and William Murdoch, played by Yannick Bisson, is a pioneer in the then new detective sciences, but apart from these features this routine police procedural breaks little new… Continue

The Beeb has announced a fine cast for its new conspiracy thriller, The Shadow Line. The seven-part drama will star Chiwetel Ejiofor (American Gangster, Endgame), Christopher Eccleston (Lennon Naked, Doctor Who), Sir Antony Sher (The Wolfman, Primo, God on Trial) and Stephen Rea (The Crying Game, Breakfast on Pluto).

It starts with discovery of a body, shot at close range, that turns… Continue