Undermined

Catherine French is sure her father did not die of old age. Gerald French's death at the Willow Vale retirement home looks wrong from the start, and Rachel finds the home has an unusually high death rate. When Gerald's body turns up bruised and marked with needles, it becomes a murder inquiry. The death rate alone would be enough to raise questions. The bruises and the needle marks make them impossible to ignore.

The main suspect is chief carer Craig Wyatt, charismatic enough that he nearly gets away with pointing all the blame at trainee Rosie. Rosie is in a bad spot: hidden cameras caught her striking a resident, and a syringe was found in her locker. Gill and Janet think they have Wyatt and his motive anyway, and for a while the episode lets them be right.

Rachel, meanwhile, is making herself at home at Janet's and wearing out the welcome. She will not take Sean's calls. She has time to send a saucy email to Rob and flirt with Kevin Lumb, but not to go home. Taisie is looking into care homes herself, which gives the episode a second set of eyes on the same broken system.

Sally Wainwright, Diane Taylor and Amelia Bullmore wrote it, Juliet May directed. Lesley Sharp and Suranne Jones lead, with Katherine Dow Blyton as Catherine French, Amelia Bullmore as Gill, Ben Batt as Kevin, and David Prosho, Tony Mooney, Delroy Brown, Judith Barker and Harriet Waters in support.

A retirement home where residents keep dying is about as bleak a setting as this show has used, and it does not need to hammer the point. The vulnerability is institutional before it is personal. Rachel could stand to notice that, but she is too busy borrowing Janet's sofa and ignoring her own front door. Catherine asked the right question at the right time, and the episode is better for her stubbornness.