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The “most repulsive drama ever broadcast on British TV” returned last week for what looks to be another hugely compelling season. Despite the Daily Mail’s condemnation, The Fall was beloved by both viewers and critics, becoming BBC2’s most popular drama of the past 20 years. The series follows Detective Superintendent Stella Gibson (Gillian Anderson) as she tries to track down estranged family man and horrifying serial killer Paul Spector (Jamie Dornan).

Season two opens ten days after the finale, as Spector contemplates his next move and Gibson attempts to comfort the traumatised victim of his last attack. In a possible riposte to criticisms of the show’s eroticisation of violence against women, Gibson advises her fellow officers, “In order to do the terrible things that he does, the killer dehumanises his victims. Let’s do the opposite.” Gibson is under pressure as time and money for the investigation are running out, and revelations about her private life are making sensational headlines. Spector remains largely silent in the episode’s slow-burning first half, until a chillingly drawn-out encounter on a train, where he practically identifies himself as the killer to a potential target, jumpstarts the action.

Last season, Spector’s double life kept the tension on high, as we witnessed him manipulating his family and co-workers, shifting from loving father one moment to stalker and murderer the next. However, with this pretense all but shattered, it will be interesting to see how the show moves forward with Spector on his own.

Although the series follows a well-worn tale of the psychopathic serial killer who “feels he has the right to decide who lives and who dies”, masterful performances from both Anderson and Dornan, along with thrillingly claustrophobic camera work, give new life to a tired narrative, and make for truly gripping television. A fantastic return.