TV Pick of the Week: The One That Got Away - review by Yvette Huddleston

Set in a small Pembrokeshire seaside town, it sees detectives DI Ffion Lloyd (Elen Rhys) and DS Rick Sheldon (Richard Harrington) being brought together again when a murder takes place that has similarities to a historic case they worked on previously. A young woman, a nurse, is found dead in the woods, with a heart-knot carved in a nearby tree.

Twelve years earlier Lloyd and Sheldon had investigated the murders of two nurses, both found in a wooded area with heart-knot carvings at the scene. They had identified and convicted a local man Paul Harvey (Ian Puleston-Davies) for the killings and he is currently partway through a long prison sentence. However, this latest incident raises two serious questions – is this a copycat murder or did they put away the wrong man?

Lloyd is called in from Cardiff where she is now a much-respected senior officer who gets results. Sheldon is none too happy about this situation and it turns out that there are complicated reasons for this. At the time of the original crimes, they were also in a romantic relationship, engaged to be married. We gradually learn how and why that relationship broke down. Lloyd is still single, while Sheldon is married to nurse Helen (Rhian Blythe) with whom he has two young children.

Inevitably their shared past, personal and professional, has a bearing on their working partnership but despite some initial awkwardness they make the best of it, while there clearly remains a strong connection between them. This is not overplayed, but the script does hint at a potential rekindling of former passions. The will-they-won’t-they storyline is subtly interwoven into the main, propulsive thriller narrative as the investigating team race against time to find the perpetrator – aware that the original two murders took place with a seven-day gap between them.

The script also touches on trust and truth, memory and family, and acknowledges that people’s lives are complicated and sometimes messy. Fion is staying with her parents and clearly hasn’t been to visit for a while, something her older sister resents. Her father’s early dementia has obviously progressed – to the point where a carer is now required. All these elements are skilfully incorporated into the carefully structured plot.