RIDLEY: FIRST LOOK AND CASTING FOR SECOND SERIES OF DETECTIVE DRAMA STARRING ADRIAN DUBAR

Ridley returns for a second series to solve more crimes. In series two of ITV’s detective drama, Adrian Dunbar returns to the title role to solve more crimes. The retired detective turned police consultant resumes his partnership with former protégée DI Carol Farman, played by Bronagh Waugh (The Suspect, Unforgotten, The Fall), who is now in charge of investigations.

Ridley is written and created by award-winning writer Paul Matthew Thompson, one of the lead writers of ITV’s iconic detective drama Vera, and co-created by Jonathan Fisher (Blood, Hollington Drive, Penance), the Managing Director of West Road Pictures. Also this series, Julia Gilbert (Midsomer Murders) and Michael Bhim (Vera) have each written an episode.

The original team will all return for the four-part second series filmed across the north of England: Terence Maynard (Time, Coronation Street) as DCI Paul Goodwin, George Bukhari (Years and Years, The A Word) as DC Darren Lakhan, and Georgie Glen (The Crown, Call the Midwife) as pathologist Dr Wendy Newstone.

The regular cast also includes Bhavna Limbachia (Citizen Khan, Coronation Street) and Julie Graham (Shetland, Penance) as Annie. John Michie joins the cast as Harry Bentham, a likeable and debonair self-made member of the jewellery trade who Ridley vies with for Annie’s attention...

In the first episode, Ridley starts to investigate when a jewellery heist turns violent and the thieves take off with their stolen loot. After an interested party is killed in broad daylight, Ridley and Carol have a race against time to discover the identity of the criminal mastermind behind the whole operation.

Will the team be able to bring them to justice before more blood is spilled? Guest stars in episode one includes John Henshaw (The Long Shadow) and Christine Bottomley (Domina).

In the second episode, when a decomposed body is discovered deep in the woods, Ridley unearths a connection to a cold case. Ridley brings disgraced ex-copper Jean Dixon back to investigate. Jean’s personal life with new boyfriend Ross soon becomes compromised.

In episode three, a man is shot dead during an illegal rave on a building site. Ridley and the team investigate, bringing them into the murky world of the victim’s wealthy family who hold a closely guarded secret. Carol becomes worried about her son Jack.

In the final episode, in the serene village of Colden Vale, the tranquility is shattered when Tara Dunning, a beloved local wife and mother, mysteriously vanishes. Ridley and Carol investigate and must locate her before it's too late, but a chilling discovery soon alters the course of their inquiry.

Adrian Dunbar says: “There can be no greater endorsement of hard work and talent than the recommission of a series and to that end we have to thank ITV and the British public for taking to Ridley in such numbers. We shall certainly work just as hard to keep the standard we have set and I look forward to developing Ridley as a character over the next four episodes.”

The new series will air on ITV1 and ITVX.