Channel 4′s Red Riding trilogy of films, based on David Peace’s scorching quartet of novels (Nineteen Seventy-Four, Nineteen Seventy-Seven, Nineteen Eighty and Nineteen Eighty-Three), has been tickling my fancy for quite a while now. I read the books before Christmas and was blown away by them, and then read that Channel 4 had assembled a cast like no other for three television dramas – Paddy Considine, David Morrissey, Sean Bean, Warren Clarke, Jim Carter, Andrew Garfield, Maxine Peake, Mark Addy, Rebecca Hall, Peter Mullan, Daniel Mays, Eddie Marsan, Lesley Sharpe and loads of other actors you half or even fully recognise (a lot from Life On Mars). With books that you love and a cast to die for, this could well be the next great landmark TV series we’ve all been waiting for. But, as we know from past experiences, hype, hope and expectation can be a dreadful thing.

Related: Channel 4 launches Red Riding website | TV Review: Boy A

Gathered in some weird bar in east London last night were members of the press and assorted cast and crew. Oh look, there’s Paddy Considine with his collar up; there’s Maxine Peake stopping by to say hello; and, hold on to your hats, Sean Bean has entered the building. That’s how I felt last night – a bit star-struck and a bit excited.

Unfortunately, Channel 4 decided not to show a complete installment from the trilogy. What it did show – about 15 minutes of extended highlights from all three – were screened on small (small for the venue and the gravitas of the occasion) plasma TVs dotted around the room.

But this is what I saw. Lots of men shouting. Lots of men swearing. Sean Bean in a magnificent, tight polo neck jumper playing a nasty property developer. David Morrissey in period spectacles with a fine tash, playing copper Maurice ‘The Owl’ Jobson. Paddy Considine electrifying onscreen as he always does, playing supercop Peter Hunter (nicknamed within the force ‘Saint C***’). Maxine Peake as detective Helen Marshall. Mark Addy as in-over-his-head lawyer Pigott. Andrew Garfield from Boy A further announcing himself as an actor to watch playing obsessive journalist Eddie Dunford.

These were the snippets we saw – a few scenes here and a few scenes there. I’ve since watched the first episode – 1974 – and it is excellent. It looks filmy, with lots of lingering shots of fingernails and car parks and bannisters and wedding rings (like snatched photographs from yesteryear), and it’s brilliantly acted. Thankfully the bleak feel of the mid-1970s is retained thanks to a faded colour palette and also plenty of shots of council estates with burning matresses and kids banging cars with slabs (that’s what happened in the 1970s, right?).

Just to recap, 1974 introduces us to Eddie Dunford, a young, ambitious crime journalist working for the Yorkshire Post. He’s just come back from a failed stint ‘down south’ and he’s back in the north, and a bit of a laughing stock. When a young girl is kidnapped and murdered brutally (swan’s wings are sewn into her back), he sees this as his big chance to make a name for himself. His obsessive investigations start to have an effect, and he uncovers a trail of corruption within the police force. It doesn’t end well for the poor lad, or for Yorkshire. Soon the Ripper will come calling.

It’s always difficult when you read books and then watch the film or TV adaptation, but I think this lot might have pulled it off. There’s lots of testosterone flying about (you’re bound to with that amount of male actors), but there are sensitive moments between Garfield (who really is excellent) and the mother of a kidnapped and murdered girl (Frost/Nixon’s Rebecca Hall, a stand-out performance from her).

Later on David Morrissey called it a Yorkshire version of The Wire, while Warren Clarke has already likened it to Seven elsewhere. Whatever it is, it’s really good, fat-arse, adult drama. It also has a catchphrase: “This is the north and we do what we bloody want.”

Look out for an early March airing.