LEWIS, STV, 9pm

THE new series of Lewis starts tonight. Remarkably, it’s the ninth, which might be a shock to those for whom Inspector Morse still seems like yesterday.

The episode begins in gothic style, with stark images of dead birds and then a lecture theatre’s audience sitting in quiet horror as a professor speaks of the Victorian obsession with death and deformity: “Every culture has its freaks, its monsters, its deviations from the norm. Perhaps we need them for without them how would we define ourselves?”

After this chilling start the plot gets under way: a team of archaeology students on a dig have discovered a body: it’s a skeleton thoughtfully wrapped in recycling sacks, a nice combination of dusty old horror and environmental awareness.

As the murder investigation starts, another body is found: a young and beautiful artist had premiered her latest piece the night before: a dead bird restored to frozen life through taxidermy and set up in front of violent flickering images. She’s found dead in bed in the flat she rented above a dusty old taxidermy shop. She’s found with a syringe in hand – a heroin overdose? It can’t be that simple.

There is also a new boss on the scene, Chief Superintendent Moody, fresh from South London, and he’s not impressed with traditional old Lewis or with his suddenly coming out of retirement.