Times Pick of the week
Better (Monday, BBC1, 9pm) BBC1’s obsession with corrupt cops is clearly not confined to Line of Duty. Almost exactly a year ago it gave us Martin Freeman’s Liverpudlian lawman in The Responder, compromised by his friendship with a gangster; and now Leila Farzad plays Lou Slack, a Leeds detective who covertly looks after the interests of Col McHugh (Andrew Buchan), an Ulster-accented Mr Big who once rescued her and her husband from bankruptcy — and who may be, their body language hints, a former lover. The opening episode gains clarity and power as a series of incidents — including a health crisis for her son, a dangerous errand she has to carry out for Col and a violent robbery by one of his goons — push Lou towards putting a stop to her secret criminal life. As she showed in I Hate Suzie, Farzad has real star quality, whether her dodgy DI is on duty tackling a hostage siege or off duty attending Col’s birthday party as the guest of honour. John Dugdale