Michelle Keegan is praised as she makes her return to acting after the birth of her daughter in ITV's police drama The Blame

Michelle Keegan was praised by ITV viewers as she made her return to acting on ITV's The Blame on Sunday night. 

Starring as DI Emma Crane in the police murder investigation, it is Michelle's first role since giving birth to daughter Palma in March last year. 

The first episode aired on Sunday and followed DI Crane as she searched for the killer of young figure skater Sophie Madsen alongside DI Tom Radley (Douglas Booth). 

Speculation from detectives was cast on Sophie's coach Frasier (Joe Armstrong) after she filed a complaint about him assaulting her to police.  

As she investigates, a stunned DI Crane finds deep corruption within her own team of detectives. 

Viewers took to X to give their verdict of the debut episode. They wrote: 'It's great to have Michelle Keegan back on our screens';

'Michelle is so b****y good in The Blame' and 'Michelle Keegan is actually unreal'. 

'The Blame is b****y brilliant. Twists and turns every episode keeps you guessing to the very last minute. 10 out of 10.'

Others voiced their opinion that DI Crane's colleague DI Tom Radley could be the killer after he started behaving suspiciously when discussing Sophie's death during the episode.

They theorised: 'It's going to be Michelle Keegan's partner on the case isn't it' 

'If this turns out to be Tom's doing then this has been far too easy to figure out... Hoping for some twist that I haven't seen coming.' 

In a dramatic twist, dash-cam footage from a lorry showed Sophie getting into DI Radley's car, instantly implicating DI Crane's own partner. 

The Brassic star recently admitted it was 'daunting' returning to work for the first time after having Palma.

Speaking about drama series The Blame, she said earlier this year: 'Coming back to work after having a baby is quite daunting.

'But the production were so supportive and I was so looked after and it was like working with family.'