Waller is at her best when sources permit her to anatomise the emotional dynamics of a couple's marriage.

Like The Wire, Lush Life is largely uninterested in good and evil, even guilt and innocence - it's more about using a crime as a scalpel with which to anatomise a modern city, its mechanisms, morals and mistakes.

"I believe that would be a disastrous mistake that would lead to ineradicable feelings of betrayal." He adds: "I want to try today to anatomise at least some fears and show...

Just as Monet was embarking on his 'series' paintings, Levitan was coming to understand he was no mere snapper-up of unconsidered visual trifles, but one who could anatomise Russia through exploration of apparently banal corners--on a quest for the essence of repose, of peacefulness.