"The first season of Spiral starts with a mutilated, naked female corpse in a skip. The first season of The Killing opens with a girl running for her life through a carefully lit wood. I never felt – even in 20 hours – that I got to know that victim. The very first Prime Suspect, written by Lynda La Plante, which aired back in 1991 – starts with the brutal murder of a young prostitute. The case becomes more complex when a second body is discovered.

Violence against women, often graphic, has been part of TV drama for a very long time. My concern has always been that because we don’t know who they are, we feel nothing for these victims – not even their fundamental humanity. One of the ways the killer is able to perpetrate such crimes is by objectifying and dehumanising their prey. Torturers do the same thing. I think it’s important that drama doesn’t do that. For that reason, The Fall starts in a comparatively restrained fashion – with Spector exploring someone’s private space – stealing underwear, leaving a macabre calling card on the bed, orange peel on the table. This is important because it speaks to a range of male behaviours that have often been dismissed as minor nuisances – flashing, stealing underwear, making obscene phone calls – but that are all acts men do in order to reassure themselves of their power and potency. They are predatory expressions of aggression."