A Matter of Rank

Rachel is secretly dating Detective Superintendent Will Pemberton, and Will would like to go public about it. Rachel would rather not, because she knows exactly how that looks to the squad. Janet, inspired by Eleanor Goodhead's settled home life, decides to try speed dating, and the experiment is a disaster: she cannot step out of character, so she interviews every man there like a suspect. It is the funniest scene the episode has, and the least comfortable.

The case is a woman found dead in a Manchester hotel room, booked under the name Grant Meath. The real Grant Meath has an alibi. Then Chloe Michaels comes forward to say she met a man calling himself Grant Meath through a dating website, and he nearly killed her in that same room. But her description does not match the real Grant at all. It is a case built on false names, which suits the episode's mood: everyone here is presenting a version of themselves.

The dead woman is only linked to the name Lola by a necklace, and the team piece her last movements together from there. The trail leads to married James Tollis, who uses the site to meet women at the hotel. He admits to harming Chloe. He pleads not guilty to the murder, and the case turns on whether anyone believes the difference. The hotel room is the only constant: the same four walls, a string of different women.

Emily Ballou, Diane Taylor and Sally Wainwright wrote it, Noreen Kershaw directed. Amelia Bullmore's Gill, Suranne Jones's Rachel and Lesley Sharp's Janet lead, with Steve Toussaint's Pemberton, Mina Anwar's Eleanor, David Hobbs's Martin and the usual squad of David Prosho, Tony Mooney, Delroy Brown and Danny Webb in support.

Rachel's promotion has left Janet nursing a grievance, and Gill telling Rachel the truth about it does not help. Some ranks are earned, and some are just awarded. The show is good at telling the difference.