Shetland (BBC1) ****

ONE of the bleakest Shetland series yet ended last night with Jimmy “Laughing Boy” Perez finally finding someone with whom he could share cosy nights by the fire. It just wasn’t the person we were expecting.

But that’s life on the fictional isles for you. Like Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get, apart from the nut cluster that is murder. This series has dealt with the topical subject of people trafficking, with DI Jimmy Perez (Douglas Henshall) being put through the emotional wringer. While he has encountered some right wrong ‘uns before, the buying and selling of human beings brought him face to face with real evil. Even his beloved daughter Cassie was threatened, which in Perez terms is grounds for declaring global thermonuclear war.

Letters: Henshall has a cheek

The story began with a brother looking for his kidnapped sister. Five weeks in and Perez, Tosh and Sandy still hadn’t found Zezi. Time was running out, as was the will to live of Zezi’s mother (an excellent Rakie Ayola). Writer David Kane extracted every ounce of tension he could from the will-they-won’t-they find her in time situation, culminating in one devilishly manipulative, and highly effective, scene.

While one does not like to cast doubts on his professionalism, Perez has been rather distracted on this case by the presence on Shetland of the lovely Alice, who reckoned she couldn’t live without him, and to heck with her husband.

Meanwhile, Tosh (Alison O’Donnell) decided the IT manager at the local fish factory was quite a catch, but with the place closing down it looked like he might have to move south, unless Tosh could learn to trust again and declare her feelings.

With all this hearts and flowers nonsense going on you can see why poor Zezi had to wait so long to be found. Then it was time for Perez to do what he does best: lock up the bad guys and apologise to everyone he had offended along the way. It is not easy being a non-caped crusader for justice. Mistakes can happen in the pursuit of truth, things are said that cannot be unsaid.

How the series began

The offer of dinner round at Perez’s was not enough to persuade Alice to stick around. “You need to be apart from the rest of us,” she told Perez, condemning him to a lifetime of gazing out to sea with the collar of his reefer jacket turned up.

Crushed like a grape by Alice’s decision, there was nothing for him to do but go home, where Duncan, Cassie’s birth father, Perez’s co-parent and lodger, and Mary’s estranged husband, was preparing to leave. Perez had upset Duncan in a previous series by arresting him during a murder inquiry. This time he had accused him of knowingly renting a property to people traffickers. Awk-ward!

There had been enough love lost today, though. “Don’t go,” Perez pleaded, offering as a sweetener to invest in Duncan’s new bar. A cash-strapped Duncan accepted, which keeps him round for series six, where he will doubtless be unfairly accused of crimes against humanity and helicoptered to The Hague to stand trial.

All that is in the television future. For now, Perez suggested the balm for all hurt feelings and rotten days: pizza. Duncan, distracted by paperwork, murmured, “That would be great, Mary.” Perez stared at him, speechless. Oh dear. What now? But there it was, a twinkle returning to those baby blues, a smile spreading across his lips like melted mozzarella.

“Sure thing, Fran,” he replied, referring to his late wife, the woman who had brought the two men together. They might be Shetland’s oddest couple, this Scottish Felix and Oscar, but they rub along together nicely, accusation hurling aside. No man should be expected to walk the mean streets of Shetland alone.