In this grey and gritty detective mini-series set in a close-knit small American community - you could be blinded into thinking the pace and content is completely original - but if you've seen any "Nordic-Noir" or European dark detective television over the last decade you'll know the score. It's bleak, morally complex, there are twists upon twists, our central authority figure is always a step behind and has serious personal baggage they have to wrestle with at the same time. It's just exactly that, but with a clutter of A-listers doing Delco accents on the suburban east coast of the US.

This isn't to undermine it, though, it's a solid gold formula and the twists are fast and fairly smart. There's a solid cast of characters, some beautiful cinematography and the performances are electric. Winslet is the undisputed anchor point here and she's earned every plaudit she gets with some seriously solid character work. She's said Mare is her most gruelling role to date and every single glance and mumble feels thought through - the minute she lopes into a scene she transforms it utterly.

So this didn't set me entirely alight but I did doggedly watch the whole thing. When the series reaches its devastating conclusion, some of the red herrings thrust in to keep it twisting along the way feel rather perfunctory in retrospect and there are a few glaring plot holes which seem a shame but transposing the well-worn nordic crime model to the US works well generally and it's a fantastic showcase for Winslet's serious performance chops.