British actor gets kick out of bitter detective role

The only concern Green expresses is over his character's unremitting gloom in the latest, four-part installment of "Touching Evil" that airs on Thursdays at 9 p.m. EST starting this week.

"My mum said I needed to smile more. I think mum was right, actually," says Green, on a U.S. visit to promote the series and to meet with studio bosses.

Creegan has been through a tough time, the actor acknowledges. When last seen, he'd sent his ex-wife and children away to protect them from homicidal maniacs and his girlfriend had been killed.

The detective returns to his job with London's Organized and Serial Crime Unit after a six-month psychiatric disability leave. His boss has his eye on him, waiting for a slip up.

Adding to his burden, Creegan and colleagues Susan Taylor (Nicola Walker) and Mark Rivers (Shaun Dingwall) are stymied by a serial killer targeting women in Creegan's hometown in the Northumberland area.

That case, which plays out in a two-parter concluding Thursday, Jan. 25, is followed by a second, equally brutal one that tests Creegan's uncanny insight into the criminal mind as well as his desire to live.

He may be down, but the series is on a high: The episodes are sharply written and acted and shot with bold cinematic touches that deepen their sense of inexorable evil.

Green, 36, once again manages the neat trick of making Creegan sexy, tortured and effective. Co-stars Walker and Dingwall are excellent foils as dedicated officers who feel the strain of their job but, unlike Creegan, avoid the abyss.

Things appear worn and dispirited in the episodes: the landscape, Creegan's spirits, the murderers themselves.

His mother's critique aside, Green avers: "I love the show, I love the gig and I think this third one is my favorite."

It may also be his last, unless series creator Paul Abbott -- who didn't write the new installment -- produces a sterling script. Another inducement would be moving Creegan from television to the movies.<