Change

Rachel is getting criticised for the lack of progress, and the criticism is not entirely unfair. Steve Dench is still the prime suspect, but a suspect is not a conviction, and Rachel needs both the murder weapon and the encryption code for the Taking Out The Trash website if she wants to put him away. The breakthrough comes when the team discovers that a witness at Michael Edgerton's murder may well have been one of the killers. The attacks are increasing, and Rachel is banking on the killers starting to make mistakes. New evidence chips away at Steve's alibi, and there is a positive identification of the witness at last.

But the pressure is mounting from every direction. A star appears on Rachel's gatepost, which terrifies Alison, and when Julie Dodson finds out, Rachel's position as Acting DI is jeopardised. Rachel is determined to hang onto the case anyway. Janet, meanwhile, tries to help Taisie and gets a complaint for her trouble, which rocks her faith in doing everything by the book. Rachel's pregnancy is out in the open now, and both women are facing decisions that will change their lives.

The episode is a long game of inches, and it earns the title. The case and the careers are all in motion at once, with the families trailing behind.

Lee Warburton, Diane Taylor and Sally Wainwright wrote it, Alex Kalymnios directed. Suranne Jones and Lesley Sharp lead, with Judith Barker's Dorothy, Andrew Sheridan's Tim Canton, Wunmi Mosaku's Rae Milton, Lizzie Stavrou's Joanne Dench and the squad of Delroy Brown, Tony Mooney, Gregg Chilingirian and Jing Lusi in support.

Steve Dench is caught eventually, along with the man he was playing his game with. The real change, though, is closer to home, and it is not the kind that fits in a case file.