The WORST episodes of Shetland

Every episode of Shetland ever, ranked from worst to best by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The worst episodes of Shetland!

Set against the stark backdrop of Scotland's rugged coastline, DI Jimmy Perez and his team investigate murders in the small island community of Shetland.

Last Updated: 11/30/2024Network: BBC OneStatus: Continuing
Red Bones (1)
star
7.37
843 votes

#1 - Red Bones (1)

Season 1 - Episode 1 - Aired 3/10/2013

Elderly Shetlander Mima Wilson is found murdered on the archaeological site in the grounds of her croft. Detective Inspector Jimmy Perez and his team investigate. Can Perez unravel the family feuds and secrets that emerge and restore the security of his beloved Shetland Islands?

Directors: Peter Hoar
Writer: David Kane
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Red Bones (2)
star
7.50
752 votes

#2 - Red Bones (2)

Season 1 - Episode 2 - Aired 3/11/2013

With two murders and no strong leads, can Detective Inspector Perez and his team apprehend the suspect before crowds descend on the Shetland Islands for Up Helly Aa, the biggest fire festival in Europe?

Directors: Peter Hoar
Writer: David Kane
Watch Now:Amazon
Episode 2
star
7.58
201 votes

#3 - Episode 2

Season 8 - Episode 2 - Aired 11/8/2023

Calder and Tosh must work together to find the armed killers and prevent further disaster. Howell and Nowak take refuge with a local and wait for a means of escape.

Watch Now:Amazon
Episode 4
star
7.60
199 votes

#4 - Episode 4

Season 8 - Episode 4 - Aired 11/22/2023

Tosh believes she has the murderer in custody and tasks the team with finding the evidence to charge. Calder suffers in silence with Jean’s revelation.

Watch Now:Amazon
Episode 1
star
7.60
207 votes

#5 - Episode 1

Season 8 - Episode 1 - Aired 11/1/2023

A Met detective returns to Shetland on the trail of a vulnerable witness. DI Ruth Calder must team up with Tosh to find the girl before it’s too late.

Watch Now:Amazon
Raven Black (1)
star
7.61
556 votes

#6 - Raven Black (1)

Season 2 - Episode 1 - Aired 3/11/2014

When the body of a teenage girl is found on a beach, DI Perez leads the investigation. It seems the case may be linked to the disappearance of a young girl 19 years earlier.

Directors: John McKay
Writer: Gaby Chiappe
Watch Now:Amazon
Episode 1
star
7.63
319 votes

#7 - Episode 1

Season 6 - Episode 1 - Aired 10/20/2021

When a prominent and controversial Shetlander is shot dead on their doorstep in broad daylight, Perez rushes back from his mother’s funeral to lead the investigation.

Watch Now:Amazon
Episode 3
star
7.64
202 votes

#8 - Episode 3

Season 8 - Episode 3 - Aired 11/15/2023

Unnerved by her discovery, Calder decides to stay on in Shetland. Tosh welcomes the support, as the revelation of a tattoo sends the case in a sinister new direction.

Watch Now:Amazon
Episode 4
star
7.68
299 votes

#9 - Episode 4

Season 6 - Episode 4 - Aired 11/10/2021

After the shocking events of the previous night, Perez must piece together what happened before a rampaging and vengeful Creggan finds his target.

Watch Now:Amazon
Episode 2
star
7.70
79 votes

#10 - Episode 2

Season 9 - Episode 2 - Aired 11/13/2024

The hunt is on for Ian Bett as a picture of Anton Bergen begins to emerge. Are Calder and Tosh dealing with the revenge of a jealous ex-husband?

Watch Now:Amazon
Episode 3
star
7.71
62 votes

#11 - Episode 3

Season 9 - Episode 3 - Aired 11/20/2024

As Calder and Tosh wrestle with the revelation of Annie’s past, Noah offers a cryptic clue about the night she was killed.

Watch Now:Amazon
Episode 1
star
7.71
87 votes

#12 - Episode 1

Season 9 - Episode 1 - Aired 11/6/2024

When her friend doesn’t get home one night, Tosh persuades DI Calder – now a resident of the Isles – that something is wrong.

Directors: Andrew Cumming
Writer: Paul Logue
Watch Now:Amazon
Episode 2
star
7.72
312 votes

#13 - Episode 2

Season 6 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/27/2021

In the aftermath of the diving incident, the team searches for a link between the two bodies. Meanwhile, Perez must deal with the return of Donna Killick.

Watch Now:Amazon
Episode 2
star
7.72
465 votes

#14 - Episode 2

Season 3 - Episode 2 - Aired 1/22/2016

DI Jimmy Perez is convinced that Michael Maguire is somehow implicated in the death of Robbie Morton. But with the investigation seemingly under threat before it's even started, he faces an uphill battle to uncover the truth behind Maguire's silence.

Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Episode 4
star
7.73
415 votes

#15 - Episode 4

Season 5 - Episode 4 - Aired 3/5/2019

Convinced that Zezi is being held on Shetland, Perez and the team ramp up the pressure on their remaining leads. Personally, Perez finds himself in turmoil after his kiss with Alice.

Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Blue Lightning (1)
star
7.73
467 votes

#16 - Blue Lightning (1)

Season 2 - Episode 5 - Aired 4/8/2014

When a scientist is murdered in a bird sanctuary on Fair Isle and Perez returns to his childhood home to investigate, a storm forces Perez and the suspects to remain enclosed under the same roof.

Directors: Stewart Svaasand
Watch Now:Amazon
Raven Black (2)
star
7.74
534 votes

#17 - Raven Black (2)

Season 2 - Episode 2 - Aired 3/18/2014

Detective Inspector Jimmy Perez believes he and his team are finally closing in on the killer as they discover what 17-year-old Catherine Ross was hiding from everyone in the hours before her death.

Directors: John McKay
Writer: Gaby Chiappe
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Episode 5
star
7.75
189 votes

#18 - Episode 5

Season 8 - Episode 5 - Aired 11/29/2023

Calder initially reels from the awful news, but quickly becomes suspicious. Tosh worries Harry and Donnie with her pursuit of a controversial new theory.

Watch Now:Amazon
Dead Water (1)
star
7.75
522 votes

#19 - Dead Water (1)

Season 2 - Episode 3 - Aired 3/25/2014

When an old acquaintance of Detective Inspector Jimmy Perez dies in a suspicious car accident on the island, he wonders whether his journalist friend had uncovered a story that cost him his life.

Directors: David Moore
Writer: David Kane
Watch Now:Amazon
Episode 5
star
7.75
404 votes

#20 - Episode 5

Season 5 - Episode 5 - Aired 3/12/2019

The discovery of Niki's body intensifies the search for Zezi. Perez feels that time is running out. A desperate Olivia tries to get information from Jamie Hayes.

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Episode 2
star
7.77
291 votes

#21 - Episode 2

Season 7 - Episode 2 - Aired 8/17/2022

As the search for Connor grows desperate, Perez follows Danny on a journey into his past.

Watch Now:Amazon
Episode 3
star
7.78
304 votes

#22 - Episode 3

Season 6 - Episode 3 - Aired 11/3/2021

The hunt is on for Sandy’s attacker, before a shocking confession causes tensions to boil over and some Islanders take justice into their own hands.

Watch Now:Amazon
Episode 2
star
7.78
452 votes

#23 - Episode 2

Season 4 - Episode 2 - Aired 2/20/2018

The hunt is on for Malone's attacker, Tosh investigates Forst Energy in the search for Sally's killer, and DNA in the Kilmuir case yields a surprising result.

Directors: Lee Haven Jones
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Episode 5
star
7.79
300 votes

#24 - Episode 5

Season 6 - Episode 5 - Aired 11/17/2021

Facing a dead end in the hunt for Galbraith’s killer, Tosh leads Perez to the remote island of Fetlar. Donna asks Duncan for one last favour.

Watch Now:Amazon
Episode 2
star
7.80
435 votes

#25 - Episode 2

Season 5 - Episode 2 - Aired 2/19/2019

Carla and Prentice Hayes are found murdered in a violent knife attack. Jamie Hayes is missing, initially leading the team to speculate that he could be responsible. But Jimmy is convinced that Jamie could not have mutilated his mother in this way. Aware of her altercation with Prentice the previous evening, Perez pays a visit to Olivia Lennox. She's in her room, shaken, with blood on her clothes. Could she be responsible or an innocent bystander?

Watch Now:AmazonApple TV