Edge

Oldham’s hard-hitting 22nd series procedural (after 2014’s Low Profile) pits Det. Chief Supt. Henry Christie, who has a “dark, brooding, pain-filled soul,” against psychopathic criminal Charlie Wilder, who leaves prison hell-bent on taking revenge on those who betrayed him. Henry, who has just finished up a big case after over 30 years on the job, yearns for retirement and the arms of his pub-owning inamorata, Alison, but he must track Charlie’s trail of mangled victims through the wilds of Lancashire. Providing counterpoint to the violence are laments for Britain’s recent cost-cutting efforts and the administrative ineptitude that drains funds, nonsensically takes cops off the streets and wastes their time, and leaves civilians unprotected. If the portraits of psycho Charlie and his gang of sycophantic losers seem one-dimensional—and Henry’s urge to give the killer’s victims, including a farm dog, some dignity in death—seems trite, the serpentine twists of the plot and the lurid action scenes carry the promise that Henry won’t be retiring just yet; he enjoys his work too much. (Apr.)