Shetland shocks with dramatic Tosh and Donnie relationship fallout

What did you miss?

Shetland is not only about the crimes that DI Ruth Calder (Ashley Jensen) and Alison “Tosh” McIntosh (Alison O’Donnell) but the relationships they cultivate outside of their work too, which is why it can be shocking when their personal lives begin to take a hit.

Series 9 of the BBC show has seen Tosh face an impossible task, having to investigate her friends after one of them, Annie Bett, is found murdered alongside a mysterious Frenchman Anton Bergen. The case is the important to her, but it causes a rift between her and her friends, as well as her parter Donnie (Angus Miller).

Viewers have seen how the investigation has impacted Tosh and Donnie’s bond, with the strain of the detective’s inquiries into their friends putting their relationship on the rocks. Episode four made that even more obvious, with fans sharing their shock at the turn of events.

What, how, and why?

Tosh’s personal and professional life has clashed in all the wrong ways over the course of series 9, with her and Calder’s arrest of Annie’s husband Ian leading to growing tension between Tosh and her friends. Tara Kirk, for example, doesn’t take kindly to the decision, and makes pointed remarks to Tosh about it, which Donnie concurred with.

Episode four of Shetland’s newest season only continued to elevate this, with Tara lambasting Tosh for asking questions about her friendship with Annie and their shared visit to a hospital. Donnie, for his part, takes his frustration over the investigation out on Tosh.

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In tense scenes, Donnie criticises Tosh for investigating their friends, saying she can’t use work as “an excuse to go around p***ing everyone off” that they know. He added that he couldn’t understand how Tosh could do her job when it involved their friends after the detective argued that its important to investigate everyone, regardless of what hurtful truths might come out in the process.

Tosh said she “won’t apologise” for trying to find their friend Annie’s killer, which led to Donnie storming off in anger and leaving her alone and dejected.

Viewers were notably annoyed by Donnie’s reaction to Tosh’s work, sharing that he was being unreasonable in his criticism of his partner and her duties as a detective.

One person wrote in annoyance: “Which bit about police work does Donnie not get?”, while another wrote: “Aaaand here it is, time for my weekly ‘Tosh deserves so much better than Donnie’ tweet”.

There was also a fan of the show who wrote: “Why have they turned Donnie into a complete d**k?! Also, 4 episodes in & still no sign or mention of Tosh’s baby!”

What else has been happening on Shetland?

O’Donnell has spoken in detail about her character’s hardships this season, telling Yahoo UK and other publications how it is a “central thread” of the new series.

“At first she’s just going about her business and then that’s when Calder says you need to ‘trust your instincts, come on’. That really gets to the heart of what’s going on when this escalates and becomes a police matter,” the actor said.

“But obviously there’s this conflict of interest for her because her professional and private lives are gonna crash into each other.”

O’Donnell also reflected specifically on how the case impacts Tosh and Donnie’s relationship in an interview with Radio Times, saying: “Like most relationships, they do have challenging moments, but this felt like a different sort of thing. This is a bit more profound and fundamental to what their relationship is and how they both see each other, and how they see the relationship and their life in this small community, and what the priorities are.

“And I don’t think that Tosh is going to come out of this unscathed. At the conclusion of the series, her relationships are not what they were when the series begins.”

Viewers will have to wait and see if Tosh and Donnie’s relationship survives the case before the detective.

Shetland premieres every Wednesday at 9pm on BBC One.