'The Beast Must Die' Season 1, Episode 1 Recap

The Beast Must Die is not precisely an easy novel to translate from page to screen, especially after nearly 100 years. The book, which is authored by Nicholas Blake, the pen name of Cecil Day-Lewis, is a book very much of its pre-World War II era, about the male condition, men vs. men, and white men at that. It centers around a crime writer, Frank Cairns (who also happens to write under a pen name), and the death of his son in a hit and run and his planned revenge, figuring that his crime writing occupation has given him the ability to pull off the perfect crime.

With such a pedigree, one would expect an adaptation, even one that is choosing to make as many changes to the story details as this, to focus on Cairns. Now renamed Frances (Cush Jumbo), she is the mother of the deceased child, who will eventually land on the quarry on which she's focused: George Rattery (Jared Harris).

And in the show's first shots, the series plays like that's the plan, with Jumbo's eyes looking directly into the camera, declaring she's here to kill a man as images from the hit and run of her son, Marty, flash before our eyes. But then the show takes a 180 degree turn to DI Nigel Strangeways (Billy Howle), a PTSD suffering detective who has turned his entire life upside down in desperation to get a handle on his mental state. He's left London; he's moved to the Isle of Wight, where he's taken over the lead position after the recent passing of the station's long-time detective.