CHRISTOPHER STEVENS: A boorish boss, a fatal prank and the question – what would YOU do? 

The Pact

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Innocent 

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Thriller writers call it ‘high concept’ — a plot with a barbed hook that reels you in and will not let you go.

‘High concept’ stories rely less on character, more on one big idea that can be summed up in a few words . . . forcing you to wonder: ‘What if that happened to me?’

It’s a storytelling style more common for supermarket bestsellers than TV serials. Stephen King is a master of the technique: what if a bullied schoolgirl had supernatural powers? Dean Koontz is another: what if blackmailers gave you 24 hours to find £1 million — or they’ll kill someone you love?

The Pact (BBC1) boasts an uncompromising plot. Four female friends at a factory, all with good reason to resent their arrogant, boorish boss, play a drunken prank on him — one that leaves him dead

Done well, it can make for gripping telly drama. But when the big question at the heart of the plot becomes too improbable, high concept can tip over into hokum.

The Pact (BBC1) boasts an uncompromising plot. Four female friends at a factory, all with good reason to resent their arrogant, boorish boss, play a drunken prank on him — one that leaves him dead. They dare not confess to the police. But someone knows their secret and wants money to keep quiet.

What would you do? Let’s hope you wouldn’t get yourself in this pickle in the first place. Bundling your employer into the boot of a hatchback after a works party, dragging him into the woods and photographing him with his trousers round his ankles is not a prank. It’s kidnap and sexual assault.

Leaving him comatose and then acting surprised when he’s found dead the next day doesn’t make the practical joke any better.

Brewery director Jack (Aneurin Barnard) was a contemptible bit of work, insulting his staff and groping a woman who applied for promotion. But if you’re in any doubt about the ethics of the situation, think of your reaction if the boss was a woman — and the ‘pranksters’ were all men.

So far, the four women who abandoned Jack half-naked in the wilds have held on to our sympathy, because they’re looking after each other. The question is, how long will they stick together?

The main focus is on mother-of-two Anna (Laura Fraser), whose husband happens to be a detective on the case. We don’t know exactly why Jack died. It might have been a heart attack brought on by drugs and drink . . . or one of the women might have gone back and murdered him.

Anna is the only one who couldn’t have done it. Nancy (Julie Hesmondhalgh), who was last to leave the woods, is looking very suspect — but so is Jack’s father, played by Eddie Marsan in a typically subtle and creepy performance.

Innocent (ITV) is a different type of crime drama. It can’t be summed up in a sentence. Instead, it’ll take all four episodes this week before we can untangle all the threads

What would I do? The answer to that is obvious. I’ll tune in to the second episode, tonight.

Innocent (ITV) is a different type of crime drama. It can’t be summed up in a sentence. Instead, it’ll take all four episodes this week before we can untangle all the threads.

Teacher Sally (Katherine Kelly, who was Becky McDonald in Coronation Street) is released from prison on appeal, five years after she was jailed for the murder of a pupil. In the Lake District town where she worked, everyone despises her. Angry looks and worse are flung at her in the street.

Her ex-husband is living with his new girlfriend, and the police have reopened the investigation.

Written by Chris Lang, the power behind smash-hit police serial Unforgotten, this is a layered and complex psychological puzzle.

It has flaws: the original evidence that earned Sally a life sentence looks so flimsy, it’s weightless.

There are many secrets just below the surface here.

This isn’t high concept, but it is deep waters.