I’ve just finished watching the second series of Annika, a police crime procedural starring Nicola Walker that aired on Alibi. On the face of it, it’s your standard detective fare - each episode features a murder that needs to be solved, and a group of police at various levels in their career come together to solve it, whilst also dealing with their private lives.

But there’s more to this show than that, and I really grew to love it over the course of the two series that have aired so far. Of course the main selling point is Walker, who can carry any show she’s in regardless of its quality. In this, she’s the quirky lead detective, a single mother and very distracted by her job. However, what’s different to other shows is that she breaks the fourth wall, talks to us as an audience, and discusses various myths and legends that fit in with whatever’s happening during that episode. The character has mixed Scottish and Norwegian connections so there’s a lot of mythology to mine.

The crimes are vaguely interesting but what I like most about this show is the relationships between our ongoing characters. Annika can be standoffish but also kind, and her team respect her. Her daughter is growing up and navigating her own story, and there’s a big storyline around the reveal of who her father is, alongside a new love interest in her mother’s life.

Being old friends with her DS, played by Jamie Sives, gives lots of opportunity for banter, and their friendship has a lot of history which can be mined for laughs or for emotional moments in equal measure. I also really like the character of Blair, played by Katie Leung who may be more widely known for her role in Harry Potter. But here she is her own person, not taking any nonsense from the team around her, even though there’s plenty of nonsense on offer.

There have been two series, a total of twelve episodes, and for me that’s not enough. I hope there’s going to be a series three, because there’s a lot more to be learned about this gang of misfits in Glasgow.