Shetland 10 starts on 5 November 2025

[IwantToRetire]

Forget about the fireworks, stay in as new series of Shetland starts next week!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002lt9z

I think those of us who have stuck with Shetland through thick and thin, just about filled up the last thread which is here https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/telly_addicts/4931718-shetland-season-8?page=40

Given how bad many 9pm slots have been recently this series may even be a pleasant surprise.

Ah …

Try Strike instead. The only issue with the TV adaptations is that the novels are long, with complicated plots that get butchered by scriptwriters. So the TV stories don’t always hang together flawlessly - though I’m not sure anyone watches it for the plots.

It did, but it re-invented itself quite successfully more than once over the years. And some great characters!

I would love it to come back! Many actors started on the Bill! I loved Jim Carver before he became an alcoholic. And Jack - the DI! Who was the other one who bent the rules? I think he had a spin off. Burnside!

I must have always loved police shows from very young because my earliest memory was Juliet Bravo!

Didn’t the Bill have a Tosh in it? Tosh Lines?

IIRC, Tosh IRL was all to much like Tosh in The Bill, and he came to an alcohol-shortened end, sadly. And who can forget Eddie Santini?

Yes he was - very sad.

Eddie Santini! He was a heartthrob and heartbreaker of the time! and a baddie if I remember correctly

My dd watches Emmerdale and I caught it recently- there’s a blonde actress on it and she used to be in the Bill

I need to go looking to see if it is still shown - would love to watch it again

Sorry. I have derailed your Shetland thread. I should start my own

Some of the storm related scenes were risible.
The morning after, when Ruth is in her kitchen on the phone to the station, she is asked what the weather is like in end of the Island, she looks out of her window and replies that it is still pretty windy.
Cue Ruth looking across her garden at two sheets drying in her neighbours garden, absolutely static. For gods sake film crew and directors read the bleeping script, and adjust the view if the weather is the opposite!
Next scene is outside in the front of her garden and the wind is blowing a hoolie again!

@Fifiesta thank you so much - I knew something was wrong in those scenes but somehow didn’t consider what it might be!

I remember not being able to fully enjoy Juliet Bravo when the lead character/actress changed!

I must admit I found some of the earlier Shetlands really boring, and unnecessarily complicated family history, so on a crime level it was quite tedious.

And half cooked suit pudding Perez was a real turn off. But the difference was that through the series they developed the central characters and their story line. And even though I was really sad I suspect Duncan's end was almost bound to happen.

But the writers or writer just dont seem to be bothered with Tosh and Ruth and I suspect it is because they are female characters. They just lurch from one cliche to another.

Can you imagine Sally Wainwright giving lead female characters such facile lines.

But I think any series that starts based on a sucessful book it always going to be better than the generic 9pm slot. But suspect even Strike if it was no longer based on books by JKR would not be as good.

If I could be bothered I might check who the different script writers have been but on one level this was quite slapdash and sort of relied on a convoluted plot. Although it is a Shetland tradition to have lots of red herrings. And characters just disappearing having been the focus to begin with.

According to AI:

The primary script writers for the TV series Shetland have been David Kane and Paul Logue, with contributions from several other writers across its many seasons. The series is originally based on the novels by Ann Cleeves.

Key Writers

• David Kane: Adapted the original novels for television and has remained a principal writer throughout the series, contributing to many episodes across multiple seasons.
• Paul Logue: Another major writer who has contributed numerous scripts, especially in the later seasons.
• Ann Cleeves: The author of the original "Shetland Island" novels, she is credited as the creator and the source of the characters and stories that inspired the show.

Other writers who have penned episodes for the series include:

• Gaby Chiappe
• Robert Murphy
• Richard Davidson
• Alexander Perrin
• Louise Ironside
• Denise Paul
• Vivienne Harvey

The first two seasons were direct adaptations of four of Ann Cleeves' novels, while subsequent seasons featured original stories developed by the writing team, led by Kane and Logue.

Can you imagine Sally Wainwright giving lead female characters such facile lines.

Tbf, her last offering was widely criticised, not least on MN.

Hardly widely. Some.

I used to watch Juliet Bravo. I remember she always had her handbag which apparently was really unrealistic.

When The Bill came out it was said to be one of the most realistic police dramas. Shame they messed it up so much that viewing figures declined. Although I was watching the reruns on U over the summer and the last few were really good.

And the policewomen had to wear skirts! Seems ridiculous looking back. I always wanted her hair.

Donny has taken the child out for the day in Tosh’s day off? On a Sunday? Hmmmmm
I didn't get that either!

why all that ritual nonsense with the ropes. And why would she just go along with it.
Yeah, I couldn't buy that at all. And it seemed to be suggesting that Shetlanders (older ones at least) are some sort of 'primitive' lot who go in for ideas of 'honourable' deaths and symbolic ritual punishment, which I think is quite problematic.

I joined the police in the late 1980s and we were issued with skirts and trousers but were only allowed to wear the trousers on night shifts.

Also issued with a handbag and I do clearly remember all us girls looking at each other in astonishment. It was never used and was as pristine on the day I retired and handed it back in as it was on the day I started.

Issued with a handbag is hilarious!

Finally watched it. Don’t like what they have done to Billy. Ruth should be sacked, suspended at the least. What has happened to this program? Needs a change of writers.

They've decided women can't be serious professionals.

These writers scraped the barrel when they did the incest storyline a few seasons ago. But the hatchet job they're doing on characters like Ruth and Billy is really bad.

I liked the storyline. It kept me guessing and threw in a few red herrings.

I am glad that the £10k to Billy was shown to be a loan not a bribe. Hopefully, the tribunal or whatever will show that he and his wife repaid it and he’ll get sanctioned for hiding the bank statement and failing to report the heroin discovery. He was foolish and mendacious due to misplaced loyalty. It would’ve been wrong to morph him into a seriously bent copper.

The writing of Ruth is problematic for all the reasons already described by PPs. This is spoiling Shetland for me. I like Ashley J but Ruth hasn’t worked out, and I think it’s the fault of the writers.

I come and go regarding the banter and relationship between the leads, I have always liked Ashley J‘s deadpan humour in other things. The thing I am really starting to yell at the TV about is the apparent lack of a single lawyer on the island. Surely none of the interviews are legal?!