The MenB vaccine was added to the UK NHS childhood immunisation programme for babies born on or after 1 July 2015. All babies are now offered it.

But it means teenagers and young adults over the age of 11 have not received this jab.

Young babies are vaccinated because they are more likely to get invasive infections more often than other age groups, and their bodies are less likely to be able to fight them off.

However, research suggests the MenB vaccine doesn’t necessarily prevent transmission of the infection from person to person, doesn’t target all the different B bacteria strains and doesn’t provide long-term protection.

UK vaccine experts have therefore concluded that it isn’t cost effective to offer the MenB vaccine to all adolescents.

But they do want everyone who is eligible to come forward and get the vaccine because it can prevent serious illness.

Around 10,000 people in the Kent region will have already received jabs, as part of the response to the March outbreak.

New RSPCA figures have revealed an increase in animal cruelty reports in the county

New figures have revealed that animal cruelty is on the rise in Cambridgeshire, according to the RSPCA. Cambridgeshire saw a 17 per cent increase in the number of cruelty reports over the summer months last year.

According to the RSPCA figures, 81 reports of deliberate harm to animals were reported in the county last summer, up from 69 the previous year. This forms part of a wider trend nationally, with a 64 per cent increase in just five years.

RSPCA Superintendent Jo Hirst said: “It’s incredibly alarming that we are seeing year after year of rising reports of cruelty. The summer months are our busiest times of year and our frontline rescue teams, specialist vets, behaviourists, rehabilitation and rehoming teams, will be working tirelessly to help as many animals as possible.”

Nationally, the RSPCA received 6,322 cruelty calls to their emergency line last year which is one call every 10 minutes when the line is open in June, July and August. In comparison, the charity took 3,852 calls for the same period in 2021 – showing a “massive” 64% increase in just five years.

In one Cambridgeshire cruelty case, a kitten suffered horrific deliberate injuries which resulted in several injuries including fractures, bruising to the head and tail and the perpetrator admitted causing the injuries by inflicting trauma.

The kitten died, and a RSPCA investigation led to the prosecution of a man, resulting in a lifetime ban on keeping animals and a suspended prison sentence for the offence.

RSPCA has launched a ‘Cruelty Hurts, Love Rescues’ campaign to raise awareness in response to the “shocking” figures. It has also raised concerns about a potential further increase in cruelty during the World Cup.

Research has shown domestic abuse incidents spike during football tournaments, and reportedly, pets can also suffer from this crime, although not a direct cause.

In one case, a kitten named Chester was left “close to death” after he was subjected to a series of attacks by a man while his partner was at work.

The woman returned from work and found her three-month-old kitten hiding and terrified with a visible eye injury and in obvious pain. She rushed him to a vet and it was found Chester had a swollen jaw, neurological issues and an injured leg.

The vet became suspicious and alerted RSPCA, who took Chester away for safety reasons.

After realising her kitten had been a victim of violence, the woman reached out to her mum, police and RSPCA for help. She left the relationship and her partner later pleaded guilty to multiple animal welfare offences.

Chester was fostered by the charity where he made a full recovery and has since been reunited with his owner in a new home.

President Donald Trump rang the opening bells of the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq exchanges remotely from the Oval Office Monday morning to tout the launch of “Trump accounts,” which will use federal money and private donations to start newborns off with $1,000 in savings.

But the dynamics of that move — the country’s first billionaire president leveraging his financial experience to help the masses — could not be more at odds with the unprecedented crypto enterprise Trump and his sons have been running over the last year.

Trump, who called Bitcoin a “scam” back in 2021, made more than $1.4 billion through his family’s own cryptocurrency ventures in 2025, while hundreds of thousands of everyday investors in these companies lost their shirts. It was the president’s most profitable year ever across any business in his multi-decade career.

Fatime Elrgdawy, a 29-year-old software project engineer from California, told Reuters she lost more than $1,000 in savings on one $TRUMP coin play last year. At first she thought, “Oh my God, this is brilliant,” she told the news wire, but within five months her $2,000 investment was worth less than $120.

Still, she told Reuters, she considers herself lucky compared to other more heavily invested $TRUMP buyers into a meme coin that lost 97% of value from its January 2025 peak.

The Trump family launched its main crypto firm, World Liberty Financial, in the fall of 2024, in the final throes of Trump’s third presidential campaign. The move came after months of candidate Trump’s overtures to the industry, such as promising to fight for a national Bitcoin reserve. The crypto bosses seemed pleased, with billionaire executives backing the Trump campaign and the crypto industry emerging as the top sector donating in the 2024 elections.

Their faith in Trump and his Republican allies was soon rewarded. Bitcoin hit an all-time high in 2025, and the Trump administration drastically scaled back efforts to police the industry and stop crypto scams, while pardoning convicted fraudsters.

The Trump family, meanwhile, did even better.

Four days before Trump was inaugurated, an Abu Dhabi royal’s company secretly bought nearly half of World Liberty Financial, steering $187 million to Trump family entities, The Wall Street Journal reported. It was a striking transaction — a foreign authoritarian buying into a U.S. president’s family business — given World Liberty’s egalitarian mission to “democratize a new financial system.”

That same week, Trump unveiled a meme coin featuring an image of his triumphant fist pump after surviving the assassination attempt in Butler, Pa. The coin made him about $636 million last year.

Trump investors haven’t been so lucky.

Roughly two-thirds of those who bought Trump’s meme coin have lost money, according to crypto data firm Nansen. As of late June, their losses totaled $3.81 billion. Another Nansen analysis, drawing from a smaller pool of data, finds that 85 percent of buyers in one of World Liberty’s tokens are in the red.

Civilian investors lost billions betting on Trump; political and financial elites backing his crypto, meanwhile, have had abundant good fortune.

The UAE, one of whose rulers bought into World Liberty, got approval last year to import highly coveted, advanced American AI chips. During negotiations, an employee at one of the royal’s investment firms reportedly held a job at World Liberty at the same time, the New York Times reported.

Another of the royal’s firms, MGX, which used $2 billion in a World Liberty coin in a recent investment, is now among the owners of TikTok’s U.S. operations, after the Trump administration spent months pressuring the social media company to spin off an American subdivision.

Asked for comment, the Trump administration told The Independent there are “no conflicts of interest” regarding his business activities. The Independent has also contacted the companies mentioned in this article for comment.

Trump, meanwhile, has described himself as being in the dark over the nature of his newfound crypto fortune.

“I could know about it,” Trump told CNBC last Thursday. “I didn’t. There’s nothing illegal. There’s nothing wrong with it.”

Meanwhile, prices for Trump’s meme coin and one of his World Liberty tokens have plummeted, part of a larger “crypto winter” of drooping prices across the entire sector.

No matter though, at least for the man in the Oval Office. As the president’s financial disclosures show, no matter what part of a financial cycle is underway, in the world of Trump and crypto, it pays to be at the top.

oth children are now confirmed to be safe, and were taken to hospital to be checked over

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Two men have died after diving into the sea to help two children in difficulty. Emergency services were called to the scene at Seaton Carew, on Teesside, at around 3.45pm today, Sunday July 12.

Police were called after concerns were raised for two children who had got into difficulty in the water at Seaton Carew beach. Officers attended the scene along with RNLI, Coastguard and North East Ambulance Service colleagues.

Two men were reported to have gone into the water to assist the children. Both children are now confirmed to be safe, and were taken to hospital to be checked over, reports TeessideLive.

The men were brought out of the water by the RNLI and received immediate medical treatment, but both men were pronounced dead a short time later.

Specially trained officers are now supporting both families affected.

Superintendent Glen Ward said: “Our deepest sympathies go out to the families of both the men involved in this tragic incident today. Despite the best efforts of emergency services, sadly both men were pronounced dead a short time after being brought out of the sea.

“We are conducting enquiries into the circumstances of what happened today, although the deaths are not being treated as suspicious and a file will be prepared for the Coroner.

“I would like to remind everyone that open water comes with serious risks. We know it is inviting in the hot weather, but we would encourage people to refrain from entering any open water at all. Today we have sadly seen the true tragedy that can happen as a result. “Please take extra care and enjoy the warm weather as safely as possible.”

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Several police and ambulance crews were also in attendance, in car parks off The Front at the seaside resort. One image sent to Teesside Live by a member of the public shows paramedics in, what is known locally as, ‘The Sandy Car Park’, while the red and white Coastguard helicopter hovered over the shore in front of the dunes.

Footage sent by another reader who was enjoying the afternoon on North Gare sands further along the shoreline, shows the helicopter hovering, and a lifeboat passing.

A NEAS spokesperson said: “We received a call at 3.45pm on Sunday, July 12, to reports of an incident on Seaton Carew beach. We dispatched three ambulance crews, a clinical team leader, a duty officer, three crews from our Hazardous Area Response Team (HART), and requested support from our colleagues at the Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS) who attended by road.

“Two patients were taken to North Tees Hospital for further treatment.”

Crowds of people lined the promenade watching as the crews carried out their duties.

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Mark Stephens, solicitor for the families and part of a pro-bono legal team from Howard Kennedy and Doughty Street Chambers, said: “At the heart of the case is the question that continues to haunt the families: who authorised the flight, what did they know, and why was Chinook ZD576 allowed to take off at all?

By TOM LAWRENCE, NEWS REPORTER

Published: 19:37 BST, 12 July 2026 | Updated: 01:01 BST, 13 July 2026

Two men have died after trying to rescue children who had got into difficulty in the sea in Hartlepool.

Police, coastguards, paramedics and the RNLI rushed to the scene at Seaton Carew Beach in County Durham at around 3.45pm today.

After entering the water to try and assist the children, they were both brought out by the RNLI.

Tragically, despite receiving immediate medical attention, both men were pronounced dead a short time later.

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The children were deemed safe and were taken to hospital to be checked over. 

The families of the men are being supported by specialist officers from Cleveland Police.

Cleveland Police at Seaton Carew Beach in County Durham, where two men died trying to rescue children in the water

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Police rushed to the scene as part of a large emergency response including the RNLI, coastguards and paramedics 

Superintendent Glen Ward said: ‘Our deepest sympathies go out to the families of both the men involved in this tragic incident today.

‘Despite the best efforts of emergency services, sadly both men were pronounced dead a short time after being brought out of the sea.

‘We are conducting enquiries into the circumstances of what happened today, although the deaths are not being treated as suspicious and a file will be prepared for the Coroner.

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‘I would like to remind everyone that open water comes with serious risks. We know it is inviting in the hot weather, but we would encourage people to refrain from entering any open water at all. Today we have sadly seen the true tragedy that can happen as a result.

‘Please take extra care and enjoy the warm weather as safely as possible.’

ETHEL Ward Playing Fields have been a talking point of late after locals were left with a massive clean up following a short stay by a group of Travellers.

The fields have been a popular attraction for generations of local people people in Haxby, featuring play equipment and sports grounds and facilities.

They are currently held in trust and managed by Haxby Town Council.

This weekend will see the playing fields host the annual Haxby Carnival, which will take place on Saturday.

But when did the playing fields actually open – and why are they named in honour of Ethel Ward?

Ethel Ward Playing Field, Haxby. Image: Google Maps

A dip into The Press archive reveals the story.

Ethel Ward was the late wife of Kenneth Ward, former resident of the now-demolished Haxby Hall.

Haxby Hall was a grand Grade-II listed house on York Road, dating from 1790 which sat in 22 acres (89,000 m2) of land. It was used to house evacuees from Hull during the Second World War.

A postcard dating from the 1910s shows its grandeur.

Postcard showing Haxby Hall, probably taken around 1910, demolished in 1960 and replaced by the Haxby Hall Residential Home in 1965

Following Ethel’s death in 1944, Kenneth donated a large proportion of the house’s grounds to the town, on the proviso the new playing fields would be forever named in her memory.

The playing fields opened and hosted their first cricket match – between Haxby and Wigginton and local rivals New Earswick – on May 8,1948, and The Press has an account of it, and photos.

The actual match ended in a draw – but what it may have lacked in excitement, made up for in sheer importance.

It marked the beginning of an enduring memorial to Kenneth’s wife.

The ‘new’ pavilion at the Ethel Ward playing field, opened on August 27, 1964

When Kenneth gifted the land his one stipulation was that the playing field be “for ever hereafter… known and designated as the Ethel Ward Playing Fields”.

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On that May day, the new playing fields were officially opened by former Yorkshire and England cricketer Maurice Leyland, who said most great cricketers began their careers on a village ground.

“I started my cricket in a back street and the dustbin lid was knocked off many a time,” he said.

“Through the generosity of Mr Ward you have got some beautiful grounds and a good start.

“There is no reason why, at some future date, Haxby or Wigginton should not produce a cricketer for England.”

Maurice Leyland bowling the first ball of the inaugural cricket match at the Ethel Ward playing fields between Haxby and Wigginton Cricket Club and New Earswick Cricket Club on May 8, 1948. Photo: Haxby and Wigginton History Group

Mr Leyland then went on to bowl the opening over of that inaugural cricket match.

New Earswick romped to a total of 141 all out, with opening bat H Freer scoring 33. In reply, Haxby and Wigginton scored 87 for 8 before the match was declared drawn.

As for Haxby Hall itself, it was demolished in 1960, and replaced in 1965 by the 52 bed Haxby Hall Residential Care Home, with an ambulance station next door.

Mrs M Butterfield receives the title deeds for teh Ethel Ward Playing Fields. Also on the front of the platform at the official opening ceremony were (l-r): Sir William Worsley; Mr Maurice Leyland; Alderman RS Butterfield and Mr Kenneth Ward

On its website, Haxby Town Council, outlines its responsibility for the Ethel Ward Playing Fields, and the current facilities on offer.

It posts: “Ethel Ward Playing Field is held in trust by Haxby Town Council, and is administered by the playing field committee which consists of two town councillors and representatives of each user club.

“There are two football pitches, two netball courts, a multigames wall and a children’s play area. The sports pavilion incorporates changing facilities, and also houses a nursery school.

“The council employs groundsmen, who maintain the pitches, play area, and pavilion on a day to day basis.”

Share your memories of the Ethel Ward Playing Fields in the comments section below…

At least 27 people have died and another 22 are fighting for their lives after a huge fire engulfed a pub in Bangkok, officials said.

In total, 90 people were killed or injured in a pub fire in Bangkok on Sunday night.

A fire broke out in the popular local venue Rong Beer Na Lat Phrao, with a musician reporting that it started from near the stage.

The fire escalated rapidly as revellers scrambled to evacuate the premises, but within moments the building erupted into flames.

The inferno was so powerful that it was described as watching a ‘jet engine exhaust’ come out of the door as huge flames spread into the street. 

By the time rescuers arrived at around midnight local time, the fire had already burned through the building.

Casualties were lined up outside the pub, many tragically placed in body bags. 

Firefighters tackled the remaining blaze for around half an hour before bringing it under control. 

Photographs from inside the building show the charred ramins of the tables and chairs

Firefighters and paramedics pictured outside the pub urgently trying to treat victims who were caught in the blaze

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‘The fire spread very quickly, reaching up to the ceiling. Smoke was likely the main cause of death,’ Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt told reporters outside the venue on the outskirts of the Thai capital.

He said 27 people were killed and 63 were hospitalised with injuries, including 22 in critical condition, adding that authorities had launched an investigation.

Among those killed, 18 were reported to be women and nine men.

A number of the victims were found near the fire exit and authorities believe there may have been obstructions blocking it, he said.

Laotian tourist Kan Kutirat, said: ‘I heard loud screaming from a lot of people inside – chaos happened.’

He shared a video on Facebook that showed patrons – several with their shirts ablaze – fleeing into the street as flames surged out the door.

Mr Kutirat said he was drinking alone at the bar at around 10pm on Sunday when he noticed smoke rising near the stage.

‘I never experienced anything like this before,’ he said. ‘The images are still stuck in my mind.’

He said he helped carry a woman out of the bar.

He added: ‘I could only get one person out. I tried my best. I’m sorry.’

Inside the bar, witnesses described seeing a row of stools and bottles of beer still on tables covered with white dust.

The smell of burned plastic lingered over the area several hours after the fire broke out, while most of the windows of the bar were blown out.

A small crowd of people gathered behind the cordon of metal barricades and police tape, some of them in their pyjamas.

Thai national police said in a social media post at around 2am Monday (7pm GMT) that the fire had been ‘brought under control’.

Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul had earlier visited the scene.

He said musicians at the venue described ‘smoke from a circuit breaker near the stage followed by the power going out and an explosion’.

‘Most of the victims ran to the back, to toilets with no exit. It could be because of panic because there was fire and smoke in the restaurant,’ Anutin told reporters.

Rescue teams outside the site of the fire in Bangkok after it was brought under control by firefighters

 Witnesses said the fire started at the front of the stage in the venue where smoke was reported coming out of a circuit breaker 

Damaged beer bottles stand covered in the thick dust and ash created by the smoke inside the pub

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Footage showed the huge blaze raging out of the front door of the building in the northern part of the Thai capital, as a huge black cloud of smoke was sent billowing into the sky. 

Photos from the aftermath show the charred remains of tables and chairs and the interior damaged by smoke. 

Social media footage of the blaze showed flames bursting out of the front of the pub and into the street like a blowtorch.

Revellers fled the building in fear as the front of the building rapidly changed from a cloud of smoke into an inferno.

Video taken later shows the aftermath of the blaze, with charred chairs and tables covered in ash.

Several people can be seen lying across the road outside as officers attempt to provide emergency care.

Another video showed the moment as revellers ran away from the building as the flames exploded into the street.

They returned to the front door where smoke was still coming out and tables and chairs had been knocked over from the impact.

The inside of the building remained alight with a burning red glow.

One social media user described the fire as resembling an ‘exhaust thrust from a jet engine’. 

Firefighters from the Phaholyothin, Phaya Thai, and Huai Khwang fire stations battled the inferno with three water hoses.

The bar is located in the Chatuchak District and is a well-known and popular entertainment venue and restaurant in the area, according to local outlet The Daily News.

Members of the public have been urged to call a hotline if they believe friends or relatives were at the venue. 

A police officer stands guard after a massive fire engulfed a bar in Bangkok

Investigators inside the building try to ascertain the cause of the deadly blaze

A shoe left outside the pub where the fire caused catastrophic damage

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The family of a waitress, originally from Laos, who was working at the venue, told Sky News, that she is still missing.

‘They told us that many of the workers inside this venue were from Laos, of course, in this southeast Asian region.

‘But at the moment you just get a sense of the enormity of this blast. And here, just people still lingering around hoping to get further information.’

A Foreign Office spokesperson said: ”We are in contact with the local authorities regarding a fire in Bangkok and stand ready to provide consular assistance to any affected British nationals affected by the incident.’

Thailand has seen similar tragedies in the past.

In 2022, 14 people were killed by a fire at a music pub in the eastern part of the country.

And more than a decade before that, 66 people were killed and more than 200 were injured in a fire during a 2009 New Year’s Eve celebration at the Santika nightclub in Thailand’s capital.

That blaze was said to be sparked by an indoor fireworks display.

More than 2,700 people are estimated to have died as a result of record breaking temperatures during the May and June heatwaves, a study has suggested.

Of those deaths, it is thought just over 40 per cent died as a direct result of climate change, researchers at Imperial College London, the Met Office and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine found.

Temperatures hit 35.1C in West London in May and following three consecutive days of record-breaking temperatures, highs of 37.7C on 26 June at Lingwood, Norfolk were recorded amid numerous red health heat alerts across England.

The heatwaves forced several hospitals to declare critical incidents and London Ambulance Service faced its busiest day on record with significantly more life-threatening emergency calls.

But the UK is now regularly experiencing temperatures beyond historical norms, researchers said.

“It’s time we woke up to the fact that we now live in a country with dangerously hot summers. To protect people during future extremes, we must urgently adapt to the reality of the climate we now have, and double down on global efforts to reach net zero emissions to stop this from getting worse,” Dr Clair Barnes, research associate in extreme weather and climate change, Imperial College London said.

For the study, researchers used a statistical model which uses historical records to show how the risk of dying due to elevated heat changes with temperature in each of around 35,000 very small regions across England and Wales.

This allowed the experts to estimate the number of heat related excess deaths that are likely to have happened during these recent heatwaves, using recorded temperatures.

Researchers then factored in how much the UK has warmed due to human-caused climate change and used the data to estimate how many excess deaths would have been expected if the heatwaves had occurred in a world without human-caused climate change.

Modelling suggests that from May 21-29, there were around 550 heat-related excess deaths across England and Wales and about 330 of those would not have occurred in a world without climate change – accounting for around 60 per cent of the deaths.

Similarly, during the second heatwave between June 18-28, estimates suggest there were almost 2,200 heat related excess deaths. But about 800 (40 per cent) of those deaths would not have occurred in a world without climate change, according to analysis.

In comparison, estimates for summer 2025 suggest there were 1,504 heat-related deaths, according to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).

It comes as the third heatwave of the year hits the UK, with temperatures yet again exceeding 34C.

The forecasting agency said it makes 2026 a record year for the most days to reach 34C or higher in a calendar year. It beats the previous record of seven days set in both the summer of 1976 and 2020.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended that authorities in Europe plan for extreme heat in the same way they do for winter flu and study authors have suggested heat deaths could eventually match the rate of deaths during the winter months.

“More deaths do happen when it is cold, but they’re not necessarily directly linked to the cold, they are often flu deaths. Whereas we see a direct link between spikes in heat and spikes in mortality,” Dr Barnes said.

Dr Ross Thomson from UKHSA added: “Heat seems to be increasing at a higher rate than perhaps the cold is, we might get to a point where our summer heat excess deaths are actually at a level of cold excess deaths, which is unprecedented.”

The Environment Agency has described heat as the largest and most urgent climate hazard for human health. It increases the risk of heart attack, stroke, lung problems as well as death from drowning.

“Heatwaves can be fatal because of the strain placed on the heart and other organs”, said Jess Beagley, policy lead at the Global Climate and Health Alliance told the Independent: “High temperatures present a particular risk for people with existing health conditions including cardiovascular diseases, as well as on babies as they are less able to regulate their body temperature, and outdoor workers as they are most exposed.”

Ms Beagley stressed the UK is not prepared for hotter summers. Homes and hospitals do not protect the public from high temperatures and we need better insulation, natural shading and air conditioning.

“We must also remember that the increasing severity of heatwaves is primarily driven by the burning of fossil fuels – there are limits to how much we can adapt to heat and other climate impacts so it’s vital that we transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy, or hazards will continue to increase,” she added.

However, people do not just die from heatstroke, the bulk of people suffer from strokes, heart attacks and sudden cardiac death, Hugh Montgomery professor of intensive care medicine, University College London explained.

However, he stressed climate change can kill people in other ways, including crop failures from drought and flooding, which causes food prices to increase affecting the most vulnerable.

“We are now in a death spiral,” the expert on health and climate change told the Independent, stressing that we need to stop burning fossil fuels: “It takes 400,000 years to fully clear the CO2 we emit today, so if everyone stopped emitting, these are still the foothills of catastrophe. That coupled with impacts on food, power, transport and natural ecosystems, could cause civil unrest,” he added.

By CHRISTOPHER STEVENS, TV CRITIC

Published: 23:50 BST, 12 July 2026 | Updated: 00:25 BST, 13 July 2026

The Dark (ITV1)

Rating: Four out of five stars

When was the last time you saw a stuffed bear in a pub? Not so long ago, hundreds of country inns had one, usually by the door, paws raised, like a bouncer ready for some argy-bargy.

Where they all came from was a mystery, since bears have been extinct in Britain since Roman times. And where they went is a puzzle, too. 

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You can hardly leave a seven-foot furball out for the binmen. Perhaps they were eaten whole by moths.

The decor at The Thistle Moor, a bleak Scottish hostelry in The Dark, is heavily reliant on taxidermy: stags’ heads on the walls, weasels fighting under glass domes, that kind of thing.

But it’s the bear by the entrance that lets us know this is not a pub for soft southerners. The white wine is several degrees warmer than the welcome.

Nothing about The Dark will leave you anxious to book a weekend break in the Highlands. 

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Unlike BBC1’s Shetland, whose spectacular photography has boosted the islands’ visitor numbers by 50 per cent, this six-part thriller makes its remote rural setting look as brutally cold and damp as it is murderous.

But for fans of nasty noir, it’s as fierce and satisfying as neat malt whisky.

From L-R Catherine McCormack as Gloria Maclennan, Laura Donnelly as DI Monica Kennedy, Mark Rowley as DC. Connor Crawford

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The Dark, is a British ITV six-part crime drama television series, adapted from the novel From the Shadows by GR Halliday, about a serial killer who is stalking the Scottish wilderness. Pictured is Ack Hesketh as Owen Maclennan

Mark Rowley as DC. Connor Crawford

Based on a novel by G.R. Halliday, The Dark introduces his taciturn heroine DI Monica Kennedy (Laura Donnelly), a single mother who seems to have upset just about everyone she’s ever met — including bereaved couple Barclay and Bethany, played by Emun Elliott and Helen Baxendale.

At the cinema, DI Kennedy’s small daughter Lucy asks whether the film features monsters. ‘Monsters are scared of me,’ she retorts and, to prove the point, she sends one packing a couple of minutes later with a bone-chilling threat.

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‘I will take you and I’ll bury you somewhere you’ll never be found,’ she warns a wild-eyed woman who makes the mistake of approaching her family. Nothing about her manner suggests this is empty bluster.

No self-respecting serial killer in a Scottish noir will be content with merely murdering the locals. 

Heavy rock of the weekend: 

Dripping in gore and swagger, the French spies-and-superheroes thriller The Sentinels (BBC4) is like a Marvel Comics version of Peaky Blinders.

Set during World War I, it features music as loud as artillery on the Front.

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Their bodies have to be displayed naked, in poses that hint at occult rituals. So far, we’ve had just the one corpse, a teenage male drugged, strangled and laid face down on a ridge with his hands stretched out as if in prayer.

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But it’s not looking good for barworker Rob (Aaron McVeigh), who bicycles home from a pub shift to find a cup of tea waiting for him in his bedroom — which he takes to be an uncharacteristic act of kindness by his dad (Cal MacAninch, a reliably unsettling presence in any crime drama).

Rob knocks back the cuppa. Five minutes later, he’s paralysed and staring in frozen terror as a masked maniac forces his way in through the window — a scene so scary, it tipped right over into horror movie territory. 

Unless, of course, it turns out the bear dunnit.