Shetland series 9 shocks viewers with ‘mad’ first episode

What did you miss?

Shetland returned for its ninth series on Wednesday, 6 November and started things off with a bang, quite literally, which was a delight to viewers.

The BBC series sees DI Ruth Calder (Ashley Jensen) and Alison “Tosh” McIntosh (Alison O’Donnell) tackle an intriguing new case that forces the latter to rethink the people in her personal life. But before they were able to do this, the first episode opened in rather dramatic fashion when Calder was revealed to be being held hostage.

Fans of the show were notable shocked by the opening, and shared their thoughts on it and the tense scene and the even more confounding twists and turns that the plot took.

What, how and why?

The first episode’s cold open sees Calder speaking about her decision to return to Shetland after working in London with the Met Police, as the camera slowly pans out whilst she’s speaking the more unsettling it feels until it is revealed the person she is talking to is holding her at gunpoint.

Read more: Shetland’s Ashley Jensen reveals surprising reason Series 9 ‘kept her up at night’

Calder’s captor is revealed to have killed his own brother, who is seen dead on the floor in front of the officer. The drama only continues to grow as viewers learn that Tosh is outside the house with armed police, and one wrong move could be the end of Calder.

Viewers loved the episode, with one person saying: “Well that’s some opening, right into a mad scene”, while another person joked: “wasn’t prepared for a siege to open proceedings. I haven’t had time to get stressed!”

Series 9 continues to take the BBC crime drama from strength to strength even after Douglas Henshall’s departure, and the audience clearly feel the same as many remarked on how much they were already loving the new season.

One person wrote “what a first episode to season 9 brilliant”, while another similarly said: “Great first episode of #Shetland tonight. Looking forward to seeing how the story develops.”

Another person shared a passionate endorsement of the episode, writing: “Bloody hell great first episode #Shetland once again not a disappointment in the new series”

And the series even drew new fans with the episode, as one person wrote: “First time ever watching #Shetland and it was gripping! Apparently this is series 9 – how have I missed this!”

Meanwhile, Jensen told This Morning on Thursday that despite being the series lead, she felt upstaged by her filming location.

“The true star of the show is Shetland really. As a landscape, there’s nothing like it,” she said. “The first time I arrived there, I got off the little plane and it literally silenced me, it’s such a breathtaking landscape.”

What else happened on Shetland?

Shetland saw Tosh and Calder investigate the disappearance of Tosh’s friend Annie Bett and her son Noah, who go missing shortly after a party they had together. Tosh reveals to Calder that Annie was looking to have a divorce from her husband Ian and had moved out of the family home with her son.

The episode reveals to the audience that Noah is alone wondering the island, and comes to local mechanic for help. The mechanic finds that the boy is covered in blood and unable to speak.

In a dramatic final scene, Calder and Tosh go to a house under construction after finding plaster dust on Noah’s shoes and discover Annie’s dead body. That isn’t all, because they find a blood trail that leads to an attic where they find the body of a young Frenchman named Anton Bergen.

The renovation is one that her husband Ian’s company is working on, which means that he is likely their prime suspect, and it is clear that her son Noah witnessed something traumatic.

Jensen told This Morning that for this series, she had made sure not to find out who the killer was so that she could try to work it out herself.

She said: “You’re really looking at people in an interview scene, you’re really looking at their body language and seeing if they’re giving something away, so it really kept me on my toes – to the point that it kept me up at night.”

Asked whether she had worked it out, she admitted: “No. Which is why I’m an actress and not a detective. I was kind of in the right ballpark.”

Shetland series 9 airs every Wednesday on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.

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