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MAD DOGS: Thursday 19th January, SKY1, 9pm

The last time we saw the Mad Dogs (and they are quite mad by the way) they were still dealing with the fall-out of their disastrous holiday in Majorca. The bodies were piling up nearly as fast as the drugs and cash, and that gun-toting Blair mask-wearing assassin was still at large. Some found the climax of the first series.. well.. slightly unclimactic, but seeing as the second series picks up the story just a couple of seconds later, we’ll let them off.

After saving the lives of his mates, Quinn (played by Gene Hunt Phillip Glenister) selflessly decides to take the rap for all of them, yet that plot-twist is rendered completely obsolete within the first minute or so of this first episode. After some arbitrary discussions, our quartet of middle-aged, snarling lads decide that they should try to get their rucksack of cash back to Britain together. In all honesty, this was probably the only option open to them if they wanted to support another real-time miniseries (remember, it’s still been just four days since this whole thing began).

After carving a trail of destruction that could probably be seen from outer-space across a couple of Spanish islands, our boys rock up in Ibiza and decide to get their money changed at a casino. It may not be a great idea, but Rick’s plan is the best of a bad bunch. Outwardly, Marc Warren’s character doesn’t immediately strike you as the brightest of this foursome, yet he is the only one of them who seems in any way concerned that they are conspicuously driving around in a car which is “covered in DNA”, still storing their mobiles in a safe and look like they’ve been involved in a UFC marathon.

The real strength of this drama is undoubtedly the four leads and the fact that Mad Dogs doesn’t take itself too seriously also makes it likable. Don’t bother wondering how inept the Majorcan police are, or questioning the group’s uber-casual attitude towards the silo of evidence that links them to countless murders, because this is honest entertainment which doesn’t get itself tangled up with flashbacks, cut-aways or any of that gubbins. We also meet a new lady, who wants to help them launder their cash and takes a fancy to Baxter (John Simm). The final scene is also startling.

I have always got them bit confused and need to be specific , if they really want to lead for anything there.