How do you stand out in the world of the TV detective, a genre where every quirk, eccentricity and questionable fashion choice has surely been exploited for dramatic effect? You must return it to Sharon D. Clarke for finding something a little different to play the titular DCI Ellis: she speaks so softly you’ll book a hearing test before the credits roll.

It’s an effective tip. While everyone around her speaks at a normal volume, Ellis’s measured low register forces you to concentrate really hard every time she pieces together clues, asks for video footage, or says how much she likes her coffee. Everything she says seems charged with intensity.

Once I finished wondering why no one had ever asked Ellis to speak, what unfolded in the first of three features starring the newest detective on the block turned out to be fare pretty standard. A missing teenager, a murdered local swimming hero, a family where everyone seemed doubtful, all the pieces of a fairly familiar puzzle lined up to be counted.

Parachuted in to put the pieces together and solve a case that had baffled the assholes at the local police force – that’s Ellis’ thing, she has to annoy everyone while being completely brilliant – finding the bad guy wasn’t much of a heist -header for die-hard crime fans. I’m pretty bad at this game but I had written “My money’s on the (spoiler)” well before halftime. Watch out Poirot!