Edwyn Collins, the legendary figure of Scottish indie pop, must be feeling grateful for his timeless hit “A Girl Like You.” Released in 1994, this track has found new life as it sets the mood for numerous contemporary crime dramas.

For instance, the much-anticipated thriller Down Cemetery Road on Apple TV, featuring the talents of Dame Emma Thompson and Ruth Wilson, prominently features Collins’ iconic tune. The song’s catchy refrain, “Gimme just a taste so I want more,” provides the perfect background to scenes filled with intense firebombs, shootings, and explosions, amplifying the drama’s tension and excitement.

Edwyn Collins, once the crown prince of Scottish indie pop, must be thanking his lucky stars for A Girl Like You. The 1994 hit seems to be the soundtrack for every current crime drama.

Take a look at the trailer for Down Cemetery Road, Apple TV’s much touted thriller airing next week with Dame Emma Thompson and Ruth Wilson. That’s Edwyn, singing, ‘Gimme just a taste so I want more,’ as his top-five song throbs over firebombs, shootings and explosions.

And as drug addict and recovering alcoholic Mia (Lauren Lyle) snapped awake, craving her next dose at the start of The Ridge, it was A Girl Like You blaring from her clock radio. That’s Mr C’s Christmas sorted, if not his pension.

Lyle lifts this murder mystery, set in a small New Zealand town, out of the rut of the ordinary, because she’s so good at conveying inner tension.

One look at her and we know her nerves are humming as tightly as electricity cables. There’s so much energy bottled up inside her that, when she cracks, she’ll explode.

Mia is a hospital anaesthetist whose job is on the line after a patient wakes up during surgery. The fact that he’s a local crime boss complicates matters. 

He dies on the operating table and his family refuse to accept that the kitchen knife sticking out of his chest might have had something to do with his demise.

That’s a solid set-up for a medical drama such as ITV’s Malpractice. But the story took a sharp turn, as Mia leapt on a flight to the far side of the world for her sister Cassy’s wedding.

Lauren Lyle lifts this murder mystery, set in a small New Zealand town, out of the rut of the ordinary, because she’s so good at conveying inner tension

When she arrives, keen climber Cassy is missing. Her body is found at the foot of a cliff, and the locals are keen to tell Mia that this was definitely an accident, no question of foul play, simply a tragedy but these things happen and what can you do?

Mia’s suspicions are piqued when the town throws a party just hours later. Turns out the undertaker is married to the district police chief, who is the half-sister of Cassy’s fiance, Ewan (Jay Ryan)… and none of them wants an autopsy carried out.

Gothic overtones threaten to turn The Ridge into a parody of Cold Comfort Farm. Someone is going round setting tractors on fire: you wouldn’t think they’d burn, but apparently New Zealand tractors are made of plywood.

And Ewan’s mother (Dulcie Smart) has dementia, seeing ghosts and having long, revealing conversations with them. Clearly, there’s something nasty in the woodshed.

With the wrong casting, this could quickly descend into hokum. But Lyle makes it believable, imbuing Mia with such anxiety and paranoia that the frantic drama around her seems less exaggerated.

The pacing is good, too, helped by the fact that each episode is only 40 minutes long. This could be one to binge.