It's written and directed by creator David Renwick, so the quality is high. The only dip is with the inclusion of an entirely superfluous subplot featuring magician Adam Klaus. I mean no disrespect to Stuart Milligan, but it goes nowhere interesting and serves no purpose other than to give him something to do; its removal would've strengthened the pace of the main plot considerably.
Jonathan (Alan Davies) has been superseded by a younger demographic with less duffel in their wardrobe. When last we saw him, he was being tormented by Carla Borrego (Julia Sawalha), but she's since moved on to graze in pastures new. (What is it with the women of the series? They never stick around for long enough.) Filling her role is Joey Ross, played by Sheridan Smith. Joey performs the same function as the women that came before, which won't surprise anyone, but Sheridan's gung-ho attitude and willingness to get her feet dirty enables the viewer to envision her as having a very different background than Maddie or Carla.
The case involves a sealed attic room in which someone disappeared without a trace over seventy years prior, in 1938. The room's secrets remained hidden, as did the motivations of the designer, but that's only because JC hadn't been around to poke into dusty corners and tempt fate with his trickster’s intuition.
Running Time: 120 minutes.
3½ reality checks out of 5
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