Well I think I've been living under a rock and completely missed this series! I started them 3 weeks ago and finished the last one last night. I love the interwoven stories when you know they are connected but wait to find out how.
I actually think Sanjeev is a better actor than Nicola Walker. I like her but she does do the pauses in Last Tango in Halifax too. He was amazing in series 4.
This series seemed to have quite a few unanswered questions such as, three of them turning a blind eye to the man dying in the allotment is very different to assisting in chopping the body up isn't it? plus, if that did happen, then I'm surprised they didn't fit in a blackmail storyline somewhere as Fogarty seemed to bear the brunt of it all when the others went about their lives. He could have been blackmailing all of them.
I agree that this season missed something as it had no grieving relatives but I suppose that's realistic and must be the situation for most cold cases.
I thought it was going to be Liz as she seemed the most controlled and most intelligent plus we saw her write with a fountain pen.
In retrospect, the 'police officer dies just before retirement' storyline is very common but they did it really well. There was no solemn turning off of the machines and Sunny's voiceover was perfect at the end. I think they can bring the series back with the red headed DC partnering Sanjeev, she's really good - especially if they came back with a really good story next time- it just wouldn't be a direct replacement.