If you love crime drama, clear your diary for Saturday night because your next binge-watch is sorted.
From April 18, The Murder Line airs in ITV, starting with a double bill at 10pm. A Canadian import, the six-part series first aired across the pond in February - now ITV has secured the rights to it to light up your TV schedule.
Known in North America as The Borderline, the show has been renamed for UK audiences as The Murder Line for no clear reason - possibly to signal that plenty of death is imminent and to satisfy the British public's thirst for murder-related TV content.
You'll just need to overlook the fact the opening sequence has a song that still mentions the original title, because this show absolutely demands your time.
The show's original title, the borderline across the Atlantic, refers to The International Border - a 5,526 mile boundary between the US and Canada, known as "the world’s longest undefended border."
And what do we get at massive undefended borders? Drugs, smuggling, and the perfect backdrop to some sizzling drama.
Characters are introduced rapidly and compellingly. There's shots fired, kidnap escape, murder, death, and the arrival of Minnie Driver to reign menacingly over every scene she's in, within the first 15 minutes.
As part of the captivating, rapid-fire opening sequences of meeting the characters, one person audiences meet is police officer Henry "Hank" Roland (Stephen Amell.)
Called away from his child's birthday party to attend to one of the aforementioned killings, Hank realises someone he grew up with might be involved.
Instead of turning them in, he tries to find the person from his past himself, while pressure around him with drug deals and border tensions rise.
It turns out that Hank is willing to go to a lot of lengths to protect his old friend from a British crime syndicate, who themselves will stop at nothing to track down a missing shipment of cocaine.
Cue May Ferguson (Minnie Driver) arriving in town in a chauffeur driven car and confidence to infinity - you know she's going to stir up some major trouble.
When May starts calling strangers by their full names and demanding to buy their property, you know you'll be rubbing your hands together with glee while developing the ultimate love-to-hate relationship with her while she steals every scene.
The clipped-accented May Ferguson is head of the violent clan of drug lords, and her arrival sees quiet lives unravel and rapidly fall apart.
The dark secrets and explosive plot twists sit in stark contrast to the bright and beautiful scenery providing the backdrop for the action. There's certainly a little bit of everything for everyone with this crime drama you won't want to turn off.
The Murder Line airs from April 18 on ITV and ITVX.
