A Little Drop of Poison

There are only two reasons to watch this series;

1, Frances de la Tour (the best) 2. Ben Miller, releasing his inner Death in Paradise.

The rest is, well Meh, they have now got rid of the annoying boss lady and replaced her with an even more annoying boss lady in the shape of ex Casualty's. Sunetra Saker, not that the actress in annoying, just the character.

I',m fining it hard to watch new crime series as there is always an annoying boss lady and the men are all servile, bowing and scrapping. With the underdog male, he is always stupid whilst his female partner is always the cleaver one.

I cite the new Blue Lights as an example, top boss ladies (note the plural) There are many others, one one about the floods, can't remember the name. Pregnant female rookie copper solves the case. I could go on but the last time I saw a man at the top was Midsomer Murders and if he ever leaves I guarantee a woman will take his place.

Men are being phased out, especially if they look a bit pale.

The perfect role for Ben Miller. He doesn't even have to try to act - just stand still and look wooden. Frances de la Tour is trying to do something although I haven't figure out what that is. Emma. Naomi is a great talent but wasted on this series. Barney. White is a good actor in search of a worthwhile role. Dan White - his character - needs to man up in his pursuit of Lisa. Donckers. Professor T is Sherlock Holmes without the fun. With Ben Miller PRofessor T needs something. The Avengers had Emma Peel - Masculine Appeal (M A Peel). Sarah Woodward and Juliet Goldberg had some potential but the producers obviously decided not to go in that direction.

Donckers and Winters investigate a spate of poisonings, which are linked to a chocolate manufacture, worse for them, their new boss, Maiya Goswami, refuses to allow Professor T anywhere near the case.

It felt like a factory reset, the first half of the series, the prison years, felt very different, like a hangover from series 2, but it worked so well.

I liked this episode, an enjoyable story, perhaps a little too easy to work out whodunnit, and possibly the sub plot also, but who doesn't love a poisoning storyline, reminded me of a Taggart mystery from a long time back.

The reset is decent, I liked Sunetra Sarker's new character, she's definitely going to be a tough cookie, good though, he'll have to win her over.

The music as always, brilliant.

Those chocolates didn't exactly look particularly appealing. Poor Kafka.

7/10.