Richard, I would agree with you regarding Coltrane, although I found some of the episodes of Touching Evil with Greene to be quite gripping and very well done. As yet, nobody can touch the Brits when it comes to mysteries and drama. Remakes in the US might get the storyline correct, but seem to be unable to develop any real humanity or depth of character in the protagonists, something always gets lost in translation. Perhaps it is the lack of interesting female characters that is one of the stumbling points, there don't seem to be any equivalents of Helen Mirren or Zoe Wanamaker in the US.