Tony Soprano might well have ruined it for all TV gangsters. Now, rather than being an unreconstructed bad guy whose only problem was running out of asses to pop a cap into, they all have to have some health issues. So, in The Fear, Peter Mullan’s Brighton-based ‘entrepreneur’ isn’t seeing a shrink, instead he’s visiting an old medic pal in the shape of Richard E Grant to discuss the possibility that he is plunging into a fog of fully-blown Alzheimer’s.

There’s a terrific performance from Mullan at the heart of this tale (like The Sopranos, crime plays second fiddle to a story of family, loyalty and the end of an era) as he steadily deteriorates, causing untold trouble with an emerging Albanian crew, falling out with his ex-wife and sons while he tries to piece together the memory of a horrific deed from his past.

This four-part drama could easily have shorn an episode (there’s far too many shots of Mullan looking craggy and lost) while his screen offspring are rather flimsy characters. But as a portrait of a man disappearing into his own head, it’s captivating and moving.

The Fear Trailer (Peter Mullan - Channel 4 )