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Innocent ( ITV Hub)

- Mark Cook

JUSTICE GOES AWRY

Innocent comes from the same team behind the hugely popular Unforgotte­n, written by Chris Lang, and this second series continues with a new tale of a miscarriag­e of justice.

Teacher Sally (Katherine Kelly, left) emerges from court having been acquitted of murder after spending five years behind bars. (She had been wrongfully convicted of killing a 16-year-old pupil, with whom she was also alleged to have had an affair.) With her name cleared, Sally returns to her home town to get back her job, her friends and restore her reputation. Not so easy, it seems, as suspicions still linger – even the bank teller calls her a ‘dirty whore’. Her probation officer husband is now with someone else, too, though flickers of rekindled passion are ignited, causing further complicati­ons.

Meanwhile the hunt for the actual killer goes on, with Shaun Dooley’s doleful but sympatheti­c police detective (he has a sad backstory, of course) on the trail, which takes numerous twists and turns over the four episodes. Everyone comes under his hangdog scrutiny at some point.

The final denouement, or more accurately the killer’s motivation, is certainly unexpected. It’s all pacy, but more interestin­g, perhaps, is Sally’s endlessly thwarted attempts to pick up the pieces of her life, and Kelly is, as ever, highly watchable, displaying vulnerabil­ity and emotional depth in a strong performanc­e.

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