Conspiracy thriller to keep you gripped

You can run but you can’t hide from crime dramas.

If you’re not rooting for Catherine in Happy Valley, you’re following the progress of Vera or DCI Banks, or being baffled by the going s-on in Broadchurch.

It’s always been the same; almost since TV was invented, the activities of ne’erdo-wells have kept viewers gripped to our screens. And because we’ve seen so many cases over the decades, the pressure is on writers to come up with something a little different to tackle our fancy.

Thankfully, Bill Gallagher seems to have done just that with Paranoid (Thursday, ITV1, 9pm), an eight-part thriller featuring an impressive cast that includes Indira V arm a, Robert Glenister, Neil Stuke, Lesley Sharp and Kevin Doyle.

“Bill wanted tot ella story whereby no one person is perfect and everybody has their own individual flaws, foibles, concerns, worries and anxieties,” says producer Tom Sherry.

“There is something of each of us in every one of these characters. So if you are carrying those anxieties you’re normal.

“Bill also wanted to write a conspiracy thriller demonstrating there is, perhaps, a larger malevolent force in the world at the moment. What he’s done really cleverly is invested the audience into half a dozen characters we can all recognise, sympathise with and care about. Then when you see this force acting against them, the story becomes less predictable and more human.

“You know something is amiss but it’s some way into the series before it appears.”

He adds: “There is then a dilemma from the audience perspective. Is someone really a bad person? Or just trying to do the right thing? Making the world a better place? But there is a darker side.

“No matter how small and insignificant a dot on the rural English landscape your village or small town is, you can’t escape. There is a darker menace and the stakes are very high.”

The tale begins when a female GP is murdered in broad daylight in a children’s playground. Lots of witnesses see exactly whathappened, which should make it easy for the police to find the person responsible.

The detectives assigned to the case are a mixed bunch - Nina is spiky and cheeky on the surface, but beneath, her biological clock is ticking; Bobby is a small-town boy who seems out of step with the world around him, and Alec, the youngest of the trio who is gentle, kind and fiercely intelligent.

As they delve deeper, they seem to be pulled further and further from the truth, and before long, they realise that the mystery is more complex than they originally thought, and will take them across Europe in search of the truth.

Sherry says: “Paranoid lays bare the human and emotional story of a group of detectives hell-bent on capturing a killer, but there are unexpected twists and turns every step of the way.”

We can’t wait to see where the police’s journey takes them-we’ ll definitely be along for the ride.