Paul Spector

Paul Spector lives two lives in Belfast: grief counsellor, devoted husband, father of two, a picture of gentle competence. He is also, as the first episode makes plain, a meticulous predator who stalks and studies women before he kills them. He moves through both worlds with the same unsettling calm.

Dornan plays him without any theatrical menace, which is the whole trick — the flatness of his voice, the tenderness with his children, the careful tidiness of his violence all come from the same controlled surface. The show refuses to let you enjoy him as a monster; it makes you watch ordinary charm curdle in real time.