The Black Tower - Part One

The plot was very good although in the novels Dalgleish is now a Commander and not Detective Chief Inspector. Also Sergeant Miskin is repeatedly called Sergeant but she is wearing an Inspecor's two pips on her shoulders.

This kind of lack of attention to detail is very off putting hence only 5 stars.

Dalgliesh sets off to visit a friend of his, a man of the cloth, but when he arrives, he learns his friend has died, as has another man, the latter was murdered.

Super impressed once again, this proves that last week's opener wasn't just a fluke, there is real quality to this show. It looks fantastic, but the content is equal to the visuals, the second killing was a very unsettling scene.

Another very faithful adaptation, sure there are a few changes from the book, but overall the core of it is very much there. I've been impressed by how much they chose to stick to James's original ideas.

Stephen Mackintosh was terrific here, the acting all round was impressive. Bertie Carvel has settled in super quickly.

This was superb.

9/10.

After last weeks terrific opener I found this pretty tedious.

Bertie Carvel is excellent as Dalgleish but I have always found Stephen Mackintosh a difficult watch. He is always playing the same character, so not much acting involved.

You have to like the characters, or at least some of them, but this drama was made up up of a pretty dour ensemble.

I couldn't help but feel we were in the realms of political correctness as it was a bit of a diversity fest.

Excellent program - Pity the rank of Police Sargent Kate Miskins uniform shows the rank of Police Inspector (Two pips) instead of Chevrons.

Looking forward to the next adaptation of Dalgliesh.

I loved this adaptation. It looks utterly gorgeous and really captures the landscapes described in the book. Bertie Carvel is perfect and I actually prefer his portrayal to Roy Marsden or Martin Shaw (although I enjoy them all). I've read the book several times and am generally a big fan of PD James's detective novels.

For those complaining that it's dour and miserable, the book "The Black Tower" is very dour indeed and is actually quite a strange book - an interesting choice for the first series! PD James seemed to find disabilities quite distasteful, and this comes through in her writing for this book and Unnatural Causes. So that's weird, but doesn't reduce my enjoyment.