I don't normally watch what are known as police procedurals, television shows that follow police officers through the lengthy process of uncovering whodunit. Truth be told I don't usually watch television, as although I own one, it's not hooked up to either cable, satellite, or even an old fashioned antenna. Instead its sole purpose is to act as a video monitor so my wife and I can watch DVDs. So on the occasions that I end up reviewing the box set of a television series, I don't have much that I can use as a basis for comparison save for memories of what television was like in the 1970s and 80s or other material that I've watched in the same format.
In the past couple of years I've taken advantage of some of the box sets from Acorn Media of the higher end of British police procedurals: Prime Suspect with Helen Mirren, Cracker with Robbie Coltrane, and Rebus with Ken Stott as the irascible Scottish detective created by Ian Rankin. Each of these series were distinguished not only by superlative writing but by the performances of their lead actors. The problem, of course, is that material like this tends to spoil you for most of what's on offer and it takes a pretty special show to match up to any of the above programs.
You wouldn't think from reading the description - disillusioned police officer transfers from London's Scotland Yard to North-East England to fight crime among the pig farmers and fishermen in the early 1960s - that George Gently would stand up toe-to-toe with any of the heavyweights mentioned above. It sounds like a cross between Green Acres and All Creatures Great and Small, not a show that could generate any of the intensity or suspense that makes a good cop show work. 
Well, if the three episodes included in the box set of George Gently: Series 1 are anything to go by, this series is every bit as good as its elder brethren. Not only are the scripts intelligent and the plots intriguing enough to be interesting without being convoluted to the point of incomprehension, the show's main character is every bit as fascinating as any cop who has appeared on the small screen.
Commander George Gently (Martin Shaw) is an incorruptible officer surrounded by others at all levels who are on the take. When he starts pushing his investigations into the rot in London's police force a little harder than he should, someone sends him a warning: his wife is killed by a hit-and-run driver right in front of him. When the man he suspects of the murder is spotted at the funeral of a young man who died under suspicious circumstances in County Durham in North-East England, he asks for the chance to take over the case.
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