It aired on ITV from 12-17 July 2019, with six episodes.
Tropes:
- Amnesiac Dissonance: In "Piano Man" Si seems like a nice, ordinary man who can't remember who he is. After he's been accused of robbery and murder, he fears he's guilty. He was framed.
- Dirty Cop: Bill's superior Keith Metcalfe, the police and crime commissioner, turns out to not only be in bed with Russian crime boss Oleg Kraznov, but also stands to make a huge amount on a corrupt land deal while cutting many jobs from the Boston police, despite this hurting both them and the local community. When he learns about this, Bill swears to take them both down.
- Disappeared Dad: JonJo Ryan, Alma's father in "Dead Men Don't Return Library Books", left her years back when she was just a girl. She looked but didn't find him. He reappears in the end, reconnecting with Alma, who's in need of a liver transplant which only he's able to provide.
- Driven to Suicide: Kelsey tried to kill herself with pills before the events of the series after a boy she sent nude photos shared them around, though she survived.
- Feuding Families: In "Bad Blood in the Soil" the Gilchrist and Marek families have hated it each other for years-it's pretty notorious in the area. Still, Ray Gilchrist and Audrey Marek were engaged to be married. However, it didn't work out as Ray's father just saw this as an opportunity to get her land, so she called the marriage off. Audrey was left bitter, single and hating the Gilchrists for this.
- Fish out of Water: American ex-police chief Bill Hixon moves from Miami to Boston, Lincolnshire in England, where he sticks out like a sore thumb. He becomes the Chief Constable, to hostility from many members of the Boston police force.
- Following in Relative's Footsteps: Bill's father was also a police officer. Initially he thought this was foolish, doing a dangerous job with a low salary. Then he decided to take up the work and do it more efficiently.
- Frame-Up:
- In "Piano Man" Si was framed for Blair's crimes, who had put him at the scene of a murder he committed.
- In "Dead Men Don't Return Library Books" Alma manages to frame her father, who vanished years ago, in a string of burglaries, hoping the police can find him as she needs a liver transplant while they share a rare blood type.
- Heel–Faith Turn:
- In "Dead Men Don't Return Library Books" a petty thief, JonJo Ryan, turns out to have become a Jesuit priest and repented his criminal past.
- Ray Gilchrist in "Bad Blood in the Soil" has a criminal history, including assault, which he put behind him as a result of embracing Anglicanism. He tried to help other ex-offenders too, though unfortunately some didn't change and abused his charity.
- Identity Amnesia: In "Piano Man" Si has forgotten entirely who he is. He's soon accused of being the Boston Bandit, a notorious robber and murderer. It's revealed he's innocent and was framed.
- Interrupted Suicide: In "Piano Man" Bill arrives just in time to find Si's hung himself inside his cell and save him.
- The Irish Mob: "Nothing Behind the Curtain" involves Frank McGill, a hitman who was with an Irish gang named the Maguires who went into witness protection for giving testimony that put the others away, though he'd gotten three life sentences for murder himself.
- It's All My Fault: In "You're Stupid Enough to Say That to a Copper?" poor Charlene blames herself when Russian gangsters whom she laundered money for murdered her father after he found out and tried to stop it.
- Killer Cop: Alex Blair, a police detective, committed multiple robberies, murdered a witness later and framed another one for his crimes.
- The Mafiya: Oleg Kraznov is a powerful Russian crime boss in the area who grows into Bill's nemesis as he fights to stop Kraznov's operation.
- Missing Mom: Bill's wife, Kelsey's mom, is dead in the present, with Bill him struggling to raise their daughter Kelsey as a single father.
- No Bisexuals: Bill and other people continue to call Alex gay after he kisses Kelsey, so you'd expect that at least he's still questioning if not actually bisexual.
- Offing the Offspring: In "Nothing Behind the Curtain" fugitive Irish hitman Frank McGill is being sought by the son of his old boss for ratting him out, thus putting his father into prison, along with murdering his mother. However, it turns out McGill is his father, having had an affair with his mother. The man whom his son believed was his father had murdered his mother for this. In the end McGill kills his son defending himself, while taking a fatal injury too during their shootout. He's well aware that his son is a monstrous criminal who had murdered a boy, believing killing him was necessary since it would protect others, but is also glad to die himself as McGill knows he's also not much different.
- Off with His Head!: In "Welcome to Boston", Bill investigates the death of a young woman, whose head was cut off somehow, then found in a field.
- Oop North: The series takes place in Boston, Lincolnshire, so many characters have a strong local Northern English accent. It's noted to be a struggling region, with much resentment toward foreign workers coming in and farms in debt trying to stay afloat.
- Outliving One's Offspring: Angie in "Welcome to Boston" lost her daughter Mel and waited for a decade to find out what had become of her. Upon learning she was murdered, she's so distraught that Angie nearly kills herself.
- Papa Bear: Bill was fired as chief of the Miama police after he beat up a teenager who shared naked photos his daughter took and gave to him.
- Professional Killer: Frank McGill in "Nothing Behind the Curtain" is an Irish hitman who had been put into witness protection to give testimony that took his gang down instead of serving three life sentences. However, he's suspected of committing further murders since after five burned bodies are found murdered with his signature method.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: One of the reasons Russian mobster Oleg Kraznov gets away with his crimes is through having a close relationship with the local police and crime commissioner.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: Albert Gilchrist in "Bad Blood in the Soil" is a veteran of the Falklands War, which left him mentally ill. He was triggered by a pylon's explosion that reminded him of being under fire and also a thief's close resemblance to an Argentinian soldier who he'd killed, beating him to death with a shovel as a result.
- Suicide, Not Murder: In "Welcome to Boston" the victim whose death Bill investigates who was beheaded turns out to have killed herself, jumping from a wind turbine which beheaded her.
- Talking Down the Suicidal: Bill talks Angie down from killing herself in "Welcome to Boston" like her daughter Mel did from guilt, believing she had caused her suicide.
- Teen Pregnancy: In "You're Stupid Enough to Say That to a Copper?" Charlene became pregnant when she was just 14 and gave up her daughter for adoption. Bill gets chills thinking of this, as he has a 14 year old daughter himself.
- Villain with Good Publicity: Oleg Kasanov is a crime boss but he has a good image as he's also heavily involved with charity, being well known as a philanthropist.
- Witness Protection: "Nothing Behind the Curtain" involves a hitman suspected of committing new murders who got into protection as a result of helping take down his gang. However, given this the police initially can't find him nor get his location from the agency in charge of this. It's revealed even they don't know-he'd broken contact with them years earlier to escape another hitman which his gang sent after him, going underground completely.
