Bilbo the honorary Scouser

Martin Freeman has achieved what few actors have managed: a Merseyside accent. And besting a Thai boxing champ

Now you may say it would have been easier simply to cast Stephen Graham as Chris Carson in The Responder, and that's probably true. Even so, one has to admire Martin Freeman's dedication, and by living among Liverpudlians and Woollybacks for more than a year Tim-from-The-Office aka Bilbo Baggins aka Dr Watson pretty much pulled off that holy grail of the acting profession: a Scouse accent that sounds right to Scousers. It was particularly admirable by contrast with recent woeful attempts in Line of Duty and elsewhere, so bravo, Bilbo. You even managed to look like a Scouser, above. No need to hurry back down south. You're welcome to stay, Martin.

With its authentic location shots on both sides of the water and excellent extras, The Responder really was pure Mersey magic. Lovely to see a couple of Harry Potter veterans in there too. But Ray -- now Ray's a bit of a problem, because he's just popped up in the intriguing Trigger Point on ITV and it's just plain confusing. We have the utmost respect and admiration for the hugely accomplished, kind, generous and likeable Thai boxing world champion (please don't batter us, Warren!), but is this a ploy by ITV -- are we meant to carry Responder baggage into Trigger Point? Tricksy.

Trigger Point is also to be commended for a brave bit of plotting early on (no surprise to hear Jed Mercurial is involved), but we're wondering: is the accent soup realistic? Yes, southeast London is an interregional and international melting pot, but we do wonder why the brilliant Vicky McClure speaks her normal LoD generic northern whereas her brother sounds more Midlands. And her parents solid estuary. Perhaps the viewer is meant to be accent-blind nowadays, but in The Responder clearly not. Are we the only ones to notice?