Obviously great drama

SPOILER alert: I’m about to talk about ITV’s latest police drama THE TOWER, which continues tonight (9pm). So if you’ve not yet got around to watching last night’s opening episode (let me guess: you’ve already got at least three other dramas on the go? Honestly, there’s so much of this stuff to keep up with these days, isn’t there…?) then it’s probably best you turn the page.

Please be sure to pop back here tomorrow though, won’t you? It really wouldn’t be the same without you.

OK, so what do we think of this murder mystery so far? It’s definitely absorbing enough to stick with it for the remaining two episodes, I’d say.

Certain characters do seem rather obviously destined to be exposed as the baddies, come the final reckoning, but then maybe that’s a red herring and I’m just too gullible not to have been taken in by it. It’s often the way. I’m very much a fan of Gemma Whelan’s character, DS Sarah Collins, who’s leading the investigation into this grisly double fatality.

Obviously she has personal issues – name me a TV detective whose biggest personal worry is whether they’ve remembered to put the bins out – but so far these don’t seem to be getting in the way of her crime-solving.

Also, she has a refreshingly no-nonsense quality that she uses sparingly, giving it all the more impact when she does decide to deploy it, such as when dealing with her bigot of a boss, Robert Sugden from Emmerdale. (I’m sorry, I know he’s meant to be DCI Tim Bailie in this programme, but I’ve yet to forgive him for sleeping with his brother Andy’s wife Katie in 2003).

On a separate note – and sorry if this sounds as if I’m reviving an old gripe – but did it seem to you as though there was quite a lot of mumbled dialogue in last night’s episode?

Maybe I just need my ears syringed, but I found myself having to rewind at least half a dozen times, having failed to catch what one or other character was saying.

This isn’t so bad if it’s a throwaway line, but what if it were to happen at a vital point in the story? “Just spoken to an eye-witness, boss.They saw the whole thing.”

“Really? What did they say?” “Well, it turns out the killer mgggmph trrrk nggggh with a pmmdghdfj…”

“I knew it!”

Also tonight, it’s free-from week in the THE GREAT BRITISH BAKE OFF (8pm, C4).

That means “a hearty vegan technical” – who doesn’t love one of those, eh? – and some “towering celebration cakes that must be entirely free from gluten”.

Provided they don’t have to be entirely free from glue, I can’t imagine that’ll be a problem.