What’s all the secrecy about? Lou, it turns out, is heading to the lavish home of Col McHugh (Andrew Buchan), who just happens to be one of West Yorkshire’s premier drug lords (hence the fancy house). And Lou is in his pocket, with his handouts funding her son’s private schooling. “I wouldn’t be here without you,” he tells her during his birthday speech.

It’s clear that the pair have a quid pro quo partnership that goes way back, with Lou clearing up Col’s mess and making sure that her colleagues turn a blind eye to his dealings, and Col topping up Lou’s public sector salary. But it seems that there’s more than just money at stake here. Lou doesn’t appear to be solely motivated by cash – there’s a genuine rapport between them, and their friendship, mutually convenient as it may be, is strong, almost familial.

When the party’s over and Lou’s phone gets handed back, there are tens of panicked missed calls and anguished voicemails on her home screen. Owen’s condition has rapidly worsened over the course of the evening and Ceri has rushed him to hospital, where he has been diagnosed with meningitis.

Owen eventually recovers, but everything from his mobility to his drawing skills have been seriously impacted, and it’s clear that his illness has shaken Lou, forcing her to question the choices she’s been making. Does she feel like she’s being punished for callously looking on as the murder victim faded away at the start of the episode, doing nothing to save him (he wasn’t dead when Lou arrived at the scene, as she told Col at his birthday party)?

Will this pivotal moment be a turning point, inspiring her to lead a better life? When she is called to a shop where the owner has been held up at gunpoint, Lou tries to do the right thing – even though she knows that apprehending the culprit, the aforementioned man with the golden grills, is sure to get her on Col’s bad side.

Better episode one: a bent copper and a seriously toxic friendship, this new BBC police drama has us hooked