Acorn TV’s 'Dalgliesh' Returns for Season 2 with "Death of an Expert Witness"

P. D. James’s enigmatic poet/policeman DSI Adam Dalgliesh (Bertie Carvel), has returned to Acorn TV! As with Season 1, each mystery is presented in two episodes, kicking off with “Death of an Expert Witness.” As you may remember from the first season, Dalgliesh was undergoing some hard times, grieving his lost wife and child, and dealing with exceptionally nasty cases, causing his poetic voice to be stilled. Partway through the season, DS Kate Miskin (Carlyss Peer) joined his all-male, all-white team, and her huge (obvious) crush on her boss didn’t help matters despite him seemingly oblivious. (Maybe we’ll find out if that’s true this season.)

It’s still the 1970s in Norfolk, a rural area rife with superstition and legend; once again, we have a complicated plot. (Prepare to be fooled and occasionally confused.) However, Adam’s poetry mojo is back with a new book, with Kate entranced at his readings. His book is doing so well that his agent has an offer of a U.S. tour, but a call from Scotland Yard ends their conversation. There’s a murder investigation of a young woman whose body was found in a clunch pit (a disused chalk quarry), although it’s suspected it was a domestic case, led by DI Doyle (Stuart Graham), a worldly, if not crooked, cop.

To hammer the weirdness of Norfolk home, we’re shown someone dabbling in witchcraft with effigies and pins and a pub show featuring two capering masked folkloric dancers. Here we meet Dr. Edmund Lorrimer (Dominic Rowan), a senior forensic biologist at Hoggats Forensic Lab, a vulgar and obnoxious man making enemies wherever he goes, evidenced by his murder, using the same wooden mallet as the clunch pit killing. There are three lab keys: Edmund’s (still in his possession), The Facility Director’s (in his office safe), and a spare at the police station. Since Hoggats is used in police investigations, this could be embarrassing.