Baptiste Episode One

BBC One's Baptiste attracted 4.6 million viewers when it debuted on Monday 18th February, proving to be a huge hit.

Audiences had already been introduced to Julien Baptiste in The Missing, which consisted of two series' and writers Jack and Harry Williams did not disappoint when we met Baptiste again. "I'm not the man I was" he repeatedly says, but I beg to differ.

Avid The Missing fans will remember that back in Series 2 (way back in 2016, how did we cope for so long without him?!) that Baptiste revealed he had a life threatening brain tumour, for which he refused to have an operation. It comes as no surprise that it was the most viewed programme across all channels at 9pm on Monday night, as fans desperately wanted to know what had happened to Julien Baptiste.

Tchéky Karyo who plays the French detective spends the entirety of the episode searching for a missing sex worker who is reported missing by her uncle, Edward Stratton. Stratton, played by Tom Hollander, was instantly recognisable to me (and I'm sure plenty of you) from his role in the 2018 Netflix hit film Birdbox, which amassed over 45 million viewers in the first week (huge, right!). Hollander is slightly less creepy in Baptiste, and we are led to believe that he has good intentions and is legitimately concerned about Natalie. However, when Baptiste tracks down Natalie to a canal boat in the city, she tells him that he isn't her uncle after all.

Baptiste finishes with the stereotypical yet ever effective twist, which could not be more appropriate for a crime drama written by the Williams brothers. A head, wrapped up in plastic and neatly displayed on a shelf, is shown to the audience to be in Stratton's basement. The credits quickly rolled, and I fell back onto the sofa from the edge of the seat sighing loudly, wondering how I was going to wait until next week to find out what happens next.