Episode 5

The police finally close in on Kevin Weatherill, and the relief of it is undercut by everything Catherine already knows. Tommy Lee Royce is still out there. The news lands on her like a weight, and the episode follows her into a deep, familiar depression while the case against Kevin tightens around him. Two men were behind the kidnapping plot. One is being caught, and he is not the one Catherine lies awake about.

It is a strange balance to hold: a procedural win for the officers, a personal defeat for the sergeant who matters most. Catherine has done the job right, and the one man she actually needs to see caught remains free. Watching her carry that takes up most of the hour, and Lancashire makes it quietly unbearable. There is no speechifying, no big scene. Just a woman going through her day with the bottom dropped out of it.

The case against Kevin is built the patient way, and the episode is good at showing that patience: statements, timings, the small details that catch a liar out. It is satisfying police work, and it is also beside the point for Catherine. Winning the case is not the same as getting her life back. She goes through the motions and lets the win belong to the team, because the only arrest that would mean anything is still out there.

Sally Wainwright wrote it, Tim Fywell directed. Sarah Lancashire does the heavy lifting as Catherine, with Charlie Murphy's Ann, James Norton's Tommy, George Costigan's Nevison and Joe Armstrong's Ashley in support. Rick Warden's Mike Taylor, Shane Zaza's Shafiq Shah and Amer Nazir's Twiggy keep the police side moving, and Dominic Kay and Ryan Cerenko turn up as patrol officers, the street-level faces of a force that can't catch the one man who matters.

The episode doesn't pretend Catherine's mood is anybody's problem to fix. Tommy being free is a fact, and facts don't care about casework.