The Lions of Nemea (1)

Lewis is back at the old job, and the return is not allowed to be gentle. He, Hathaway and DS Maddox are swept straight into a murder investigation when an American classics student is killed, and the case lands them in the familiar territory of Oxford academia and its attendant complications. Lewis's return to the job is treated as plain work rather than triumph, and the episode is the better for it. The team has to find its working order while the evidence is still fresh.

The investigation spreads across the student's world, touching figures from academia and local life alike. Felix Garwood, Jennie Brightway, Simon Flaxmore, Karen Newman, Tabby Brightway, Philippa Garwood, Chloe Ilson, Harrison Sax: the names accumulate faster than the answers, and a television journalist adds the pressure of public scrutiny. The episode is careful to establish the cast of characters who will matter as the story develops.

But the victim's world is drawn with quick, sure strokes, and the journalist in the middle of it all is a reminder that murder in Oxford is news before it is a case. As opening chapters go, this one is content to set a crowded table.

Colin Dexter, Tahsin Guner and Nicholas Hicks-Beach wrote it, and Nicholas Laughland directed. John Light plays Felix Garwood, Sian Brooke is Jennie Brightway, Clive Merrison plays Simon Flaxmore, Rosie Cavaliero takes Karen Newman, Kitty Rich plays Tabby Brightway, Andrea Lowe is Philippa Garwood, Jessica Henwick plays Chloe Ilson, Michael Ryan takes Harrison Sax, Alisha Bailey plays Rose Anderson and Wesley Smith appears as the Television Journalist. Kevin Whately, Laurence Fox and Angela Griffin lead the investigation.

As an opening chapter it does its job efficiently, setting the scene and the suspects without rushing. The pleasure is in watching the reformed team settle back into the work, Maddox proving herself alongside the old hands. The dead student's world has been mapped. The next episode will have to find the killer in it.