Damaged

Rich is murdered, and the case has all the markings of a hate crime. His friend Adam Hutchings points the finger at Barry Keane, the homophobic neighbour who threatened them both after Adam and Rich tried to persuade Keane's wife Charlotte to leave him. Keane had assaulted Charlotte, and the intervention was not appreciated. Hutchings has no alibi, which makes his accusation look shifty, until he admits under questioning that he was with Charlotte's friend Moira at the time. He is having an affair with her. It explains the missing alibi without explaining the murder.

The case is a knot of domestic violence and old neighbourhood grudges, with an affair tangled in for good measure, and the show works through it without pretending any of the people in it are easy to like.

But Janet's own life provides the episode's gentler scenes. She goes on her first date in a long time and gets cold feet at the last minute, because the idea of having to sell herself to a stranger makes her heart sink. It is a small, true moment, and Lesley Sharp sells it.

Rachel has bigger trouble. Her mother Sharon reappears with a boyfriend on remand for drug dealing, and Sharon wants Rachel to get him bail. Rachel refuses, and the fallout costs her: the distraction makes her lose track of vital evidence in the investigation. She redeems herself by being instrumental in solving the case and identifying the killer, which is the show being fair to her after a rough stretch.

Lee Warburton, Diane Taylor and Sally Wainwright wrote it, Simon Delaney directed. Suranne Jones and Lesley Sharp lead, with Judy Holt's Scary Mary, Jenny Platt's Charlotte, Ashley Campbell's Tim and the usual squad of David Prosho, Danny Webb, Tony Mooney and Delroy Brown around them.

A hate crime that turns out to be more tangled than the label suggests, and two detectives dealing with their own damage while they do it. The title does not need a subtitle.