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That monster’s other faces include Series 3’s newly introduced Rob Hepworth (Mark Stanley), a despicable, controlling domestic abuser who hides his violence behind a carefully staged role as a stand-up schoolteacher and put-upon father. And then there are the many heads of the Kneževićs, an organised crime gang of sex traffickers and drug dealers Catherine has been cleaning up after for decades.
There’s even pharmacist Faisal Bhatti (Amit Shah), the equivalent of previous series’ Kevin Weatherill, Ashley Cowgill and John Wadsworth – all cowards who selfishly grabbed at what looked like an easy win, and found themselves out of their depth with some extremely dangerous people.
Tommy Lee Royce may not be her equal in our eyes, but he is Catherine’s first priority, because once again, he’s coming for Ryan. After attempting to kill the eight-year-old in a murder-suicide in series one, and from prison, manipulating an unhinged woman to groom him in series two, Ryan’s biological dad (who fathered him when he brutally raped Catherine’s daughter Becky) has a plan. It appears to involve Ryan’s secret visits to his prison, a crash course in learning Spanish, an upcoming court date, and a deal he’s possibly made with the aforementioned Kneževićs.
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This is all conjecture at this stage, of course, but let’s put the pieces together: the discovery of Gary Kokovsky’s body led to murderer Darius Knežević ordering the killing of Tommy Lee Royce in prison, to ensure that he didn’t tell the police what he knows (which is that Darius pulled the trigger and Tommy helped to dispose of the body, leaving his St Christopher pendant behind). Tommy, however, wasn’t killed but survived the attack. How? Perhaps he made a deal with Darius’ goons – to pin the murder on gang rival Chris Oxley from Oldham in exchange for his life? And perhaps he chucked in the means to manipulate a police sergeant by offering up his son Ryan to them for good measure?
What’s the worth in speculating while this series opener offered up so much of substance. We have a new enemy in the odious Rob (proof that Audi drivers and PE teachers are a Venn diagram of awfulness), new intrigue in Gary Kokovsky’s corpse potentially providing a route back to the Kneževićs, and the looming prospect of Catherine’s retirement and dinner with her new daughter-in-law’s millionaire dad, Nev.
One thing we can be sure about is that Tommy Lee Royce is driven entirely by self-regard. The likelihood that the smirking, recalcitrant manipulator we saw admiring himself in his cell mirror truthfully wants a relationship with his son is nil. That man, with his Jesus-meets-Charles-Manson new look, would throw anybody to the wolves if it got him one step further to where he wants to be. Ryan’s in danger.
