Lewis: Season Eight (2014)

Entry Wounds d. Nicholas Renton scr. Helen Jenkins

Hathaway has been promoted to DI and is proving a tough boss to Angela Griffin (Turn Up Charlie); Lewis is retired, and attempting to build a canoe. Then Innocent requests him back on a one year contract (thus he is retired a full 13 minutes of screen time), leading to amusing protocol situations with his former deputy, and some conflicts with Laura.

The Lions of Nemea d. Nicholas Laughland. Idea: Tahsin Guner,  scr. Noel Farragher (ep. 1) and Nicholas Hicks-Beach (ep. 2)

Is there a stable of ITV writers?

You know that bit in Amadeus when the king says to the composer 'Too many notes'? Well I felt a bit like that in this episode as lots of plot flew our way, involving a violent bouncer, a woman who needed to have a baby, a philandering college don (John Light) and a fraudulent play by Euripides (the discovering of the latter being the cleverest thing about it). But maybe that's the standard amount of plot?

Angela Griffin's still the DC and Hathaway has time for a sort of compassionate flirtation with the wife of the philanderer, played by Andrea Lowe, who we recognise from I don't quite know where.

Beyond Good and Evil d. David Drury scr. Noel Farragher

This is a great way to finish the season - put your characters in danger. In this case, a police-bashing psycho who Robbie put away  is about to be released following dodgy evidence (yes, it's all 'Robbie' 'James' these days and I haven't heard Hobson say 'Hello boys' in ages).

In answer to one of the questions above, let's look at how this begins - Robbie and Laura enjoying being together; Hathaway and DS Maddox (Griffin) actually enjoying one another's company at a pub - she has requested pork scratchings - and meeting her boyfriend (both useful plot points); and in similar friendly mood a couple of coppers enjoying ice creams and saying 'What are you doing tonight?' before one of them is murdered.

In other words a simple plot - is he or isn't he a psycho, and who's doing the copycat killings? And in the midst of this, Robbie (and Laura, and, as it turns out, Maddox) are under threat and Lewis and Hathaway argue about it - good stuff.

Sometimes the horrible academics bumping each other off can get a bit much. (This uses Nietzsche as its academic sub-text.)

Alec Newman, Susan Wooldridge.