Richard Armitage plays Dr Ethan Winter, a maverick forensic pathologist who bursts into police interrogation rooms in a waxed cagoule. DI Lauren Bell gasps, “You can’t do this!” But he can, because he’s Dr Ethan Winter, one of the greatest forensic pathologists of his generation.
A troubled genius
Winter is troubled, as shown by scenes of him pacing silently around his underlit Bristol flat. His malaise may relate to the murder of his fiancee a decade ago, a case that provides the series’ narrative backbone while leaving time for new crimes.
The body of a young woman is found in a freezer lorry. DI Bell, recently moved from the Met, suspects a local recidivist, but DS Ellis Daldry knows better: “Ethan can read a body like other people read a book.”
High production values
The script is flimsy, but the dead fiancee storyline is gripping. The direction, soundtrack, and lighting paint Bristol as a glowering storm cloud of polo-necked pain. Based on French thriller Balthazar, the show has a narked grandeur.
It’s a potboiler in a belted trenchcoat, but even the ridiculous bits work. Sometimes you want prestige drama; sometimes you want Richard Armitage shouting, “FAECES!” while sprinting through Bristol in a cagoule.
Winter aired on ITV1 and is on ITVX now.
