Shetland returned on Thursday evening (November 13) with DI 'Tosh' McIntosh and DI Ruth Calder investigating more murders in the Scottish archipelago, but the opening episode ended with Tosh trapped in an underground tank, and viewers are worried she may not survive.
Tosh's Final Season
Actress Alison O'Donnell has confirmed that the latest season will be her last as Tosh, as she is set to leave the crime drama. In the first episode of series 11, the skeletal remains of an unknown male were found inside a car dredged from the sea, and it was Calder and Tosh's job to find the troubled owner who fled the Isles nine years ago.
The investigation soon turned to two men who went missing back in 2017, including local doctor Raymond Linden, the owner of the car, and Ukrainian contract worker Ivan Dudka, who had an emergency home appointment with Raymond just before he disappeared.
Trapped in the Tank
Ivan had been staying at a hostel in Lerwick, but the address recorded in the surgery diary was in Isbister, about an hour away. In a bid to solve the mystery, Tosh travelled to the area and began snooping around an underground tank, but she wasn't alone.
Tosh called out, "Are you okay? Do you need help?" but there was no answer, so as the ladder she was climbing down gave way, she descended further into the bowels of the tank and fell. Fortunately, Tosh wasn't hurt and managed to get back on her feet before a mysterious figure rushed towards the ladder while her back was turned.
She tried to get away from them and shouted, "Hey", but they quickly closed the hatch behind them and fled the scene, leaving a very worried-looking Tosh trapped inside.
Viewer Reactions
The detective pulled out her mobile phone torch to investigate the area, and she was in for a shock. Tosh uncovered the remains of another body, just as Calder was leaving a message on her phone. It had emerged that the skeleton found in Raymond's car did, in fact, belong to him, and that Ivan was very likely the man Tosh found in the tank, but the motive remained unknown.
Taking to X, one viewer pleaded: "#Shetland I hope Tosh gets out okay. I know she's leaving, sadly", as a second fumed: "#Shetland hasn't been the same since Jimmy and Duncan left. Now Tosh is the last straw."
A third chimed in: "That was a pretty good episode except for that at the end......why oh why #Shetland", with another commenting: "So good to have this brilliant drama back on TV. I could feel it in my bones that something was coming right down the road at Tosh, oh & I was right; please no, not Tosh #Shetland."
"WTF'S writing the scripts for #Shetland this Season?! There's no way Tosh /Any Woman would enter & explore that building on their own...Finished with it," exclaimed one viewer. (sic)
"So, new season of #Shetland started tonight, first: Did no one tell Tosh you don't go down a dark, scary hole on your own without backup and/or without telling anyone where you are?", added another.
Shetland series 11 airs Thursdays at 9pm on BBC One and iPlayer.
