Last night's TV: In the Dark and Phil Spencer: Find me a Home

The first instalment of crime drama In The Dark was a promising, absorbing start

DI Helen Weeks, played by MyAnna Buring, is a straight-talking tough cookie with inner vulnerability (BBC)

The first instalment of In The Dark felt like it should have been on in autumn. It was lashing down for most of the episode, characters were togged up in parkas and there were falling leaves in the credits. The subject matter, grisly murder and decomposing bodies in woods, was curl-up-on-the-sofa-under-a-blanket stuff. It was filmed in north Derbyshire and west Yorkshire, and this four-part adaptation of Mark Billingham's best-selling crime novels so far isn’t doing either county any favours in staycation season thanks to the perennially grey, moody skies – but it is gripping telly.

It’s been at least five minutes since the last gritty British crime series after all ­– Line of Duty, Broadchurch, Unforgotten – a genre my colleague has coined “Grittish”, a favourite of mine, not least for the ballsy female leads.

DI Helen Weeks, played by MyAnna Buring (Ripper Street, Downton Abbey) is one of those straight-talking tough cookies with inner vulnerability. She returned to her home town here to investigate the disappearance of two teenage girls. The chief suspect was the husband of her old school friend Linda Bates (Emma Fryer) with whom she has a Past, which no doubt we’ll find out about soon enough. We also learnt that DI Weeks is in the first trimester of pregnancy, about which she has ambivalent feelings: “I cant see myself sitting in cafes with my tits out all day,” was one memorable line to partner and fellow “copper” Paul Hopwood, played by Ben Batt (The Go Between, Shameless). There may also be a sticky paternity issue in the mix. Read mo

With so much detective fodder out there, shows need a good script and top-drawer acting (take a bow Happy Valley, written by master of naturalistic dialogue Sally Wainwright and starring the peerless Sarah Lancashire). So far, the evidence is that writer Danny Brocklehurst (Ordinary Lies) has done a good job here, particularly in drawing a close-knit Derbyshire community where chat in the pub runs from Facebook to pig stealing, as well as the upsurge in business thanks to the murders coming to town. When crime hits a community, the minutiae – and humour - in life goes on more than some of those bleak Scandi cop shows would have us believe.

The rest of the cast is strong, not least Sinead Matthews (Toast of London) as another former school friend Paula Days and Ashley Walters (Top Boy), who I think was born to play cocky coppers. The jury’s out as to whether In The Dark will make my Grittish Hall of Fame, but this was a good start.

Phil Spencer: Find Me a Home was commissioned before the Grenfell Tower fire highlighted some of the unpalatable truths about our country’s inadequate housing system to those of us fortunate enough not to have first-hand experience of it, but this was a timely, eye-opening watch.

The Location, Location, Location host was helping hard-working, “hidden homeless” families to find long-term accommodation. Corvel, Meyrem and their young son were living in a cockroach and rat-infested flat in Southwark due for demolition – and paying over £900 a month in rent. Their low income ­meant they couldn’t afford to rent privately in the borough.

In Kent, Bibi and her teenage son Oscar’s home had been bought for redevelopment so they were evicted. Bibi was a full-time carer to Oscar and Phil had to ask 43 agents to find just one landlord willing to rent to anyone claiming housing benefit.

(Channel 4 (Channel 4)

As Spencer said of Corvel and Meyrem: “All they want is a safe, stable roof over their head and a place they can call home. They’re not fussy, they’re not unrealistic...it’s dire.”

Spencer showed both families commendable housing schemes elsewhere but these were the anomalies rather than the norm. With a big name on the case, the council bumped Crovel and Meyrem up their list and in Kent, Spencer’s clout persuaded a landlord to consider a tenant on benefits. But the rest don’t have Phil in their corner and that was the real wake-up call here.