Traces review: Refreshing female-led crime drama capitalises on appetite for true crime

UKTV channel Alibi has done something clever with Traces, their new crime drama that kicked off on Monday night.

In episode one we met Emma, who takes a job as a lab technician at SIFA, the Scottish Institute of Forensic Science.

She is put on a collision course with her boss, Professor Sarah Gordon (Laura Fraser), over the Prof’s Massive Open Online Course for students which contains a case with similar details to how Emma’s own mother was murdered.

Riding the wave of the recent appetite for true crime, Traces invites viewers to follow the story of a fictional true crime through the eyes of intriguing characters.

But it’s the addition of the forensic side of the police work taking centre stage, rather than some broody policeman with a tortured past, which feeds directly into the true crime fascination. It’s the minutiae, the evidence that points one way or wildly in another that keeps people hooked.

Emma learning her mother was dismembered, her stepdad’s supposed bad temper, her’s mum’s sketchy relationship status – it all adds up. And following what they add up to is part of the fun.

Carrying this story are three well-rounded leading ladies. A great female role doesn’t have to equal wearing high-heels, kicking butt and taking names (although this is also pretty cool). It can be a clearly nerdy Sarah getting excited about a new forensic discovery. Or the clever, free-spirited yet haunted Emma taking charge of her own life.

Molly Windsor is an asset to anything she’s in (see: Three Girls, Cheat) and Traces is no exception, while Laura puts in a solid performance as the self-described ‘square’ Professor Gordon.

Jennifer Spence as Professor Kathy Torrance was sparky and fun, and added much needed warmth and humanity to what is otherwise a gloomy story.

She was a little underused in the first episode but when she did appear she was the perfect foil to the straight-laced Sarah and Emma’s earnestness.

If Traces does get a second outing as star Fraser has suggested it might, enough groundwork has been laid with these characters to make us care what they get up to next. While waiting for the next Making A Murderer or the new season of Mndhunter, it’s worth sticking with.

Traces airs Mondays at 9pm on Alibi.