A cold, grey Christmas Eve at Manchester CID, A-Division, 1973. A few limp strips of Christmas tinsel hung from the concrete pillars of the incident room. A tatty, plastic fairy in mini-skirt and suspenders ­dangled ­obscenely from DCI Gene Hunt’s office door. DI Sam Tyler sat at his desk, ­ignoring the report he was supposed to be writing and staring, instead, through the window, out at the ­ominous black clouds that were forming over the city skyline. Would the snow fall when everyone settled down for the big film on TV? What were they watching—Toy Story? The Lord Of The Rings? ‘Not the mole!’