Martin Shaw and Lee Ingleby are set to return to BBC One for more Inspector George Gently cases.
The new four-part series is set in 1969 and takes place “several months” after the pair were shot in Durham Cathedral at the end of the last series.
As the series opens, Gently (Shaw) has been pushing himself to full fitness and is back at work, whilst Bacchus (Ingleby) is still recuperating from his serious injuries in a police convalescent home…
Ahead of transmission the BBC has released updated details of the pair’s latest four investigations:
Gently Between The Lines by Tim Prager, sees Gently shocked to receive Bacchus’s resignation, but he soon realises that his sergeant has lost his confidence. Setting about to fix Bacchus, Gently insists that whilst he serves out his notice, he needs him to help investigate a death in custody.
The Newcastle police have arrested rioters as they tried to clear a slum due for demolition. The next morning one of the protesters is discovered dead in the cells by WPC Rachel Coles (LISA MCGRILLIS – Hebburn, The Pitman Painters).
This will turn into a case that will have both Gently and Bacchus questioning what it means to be a police officer at a time when attitudes to the police are changing. They are no longer the trusted, familiar, local “bobbies on the beat”. Police officers are now being seen as agents of the state.
Cast includes: ROBERT PUGH (The Shadow Line, Game of Thrones), STEVE EVETS (Rev, Five Days), RUTH GEMMELL (Inside Man, Utopia), MATT STOKOE (The Village, Misfits) and CAROLINE O’NEILL (Doctors, Holby City).
Blue For Bluebird by Jess Williams, takes Gently and Bacchus to the Blue Bird Holiday Camp, to investigate staff and holidaymakers, when the body of one of the entertainers is washed up nearby.
The colourful inmates of the holiday camp, from the flamboyant owner and his sister, to the chalet girls, performers, lifeguards and guests, throw the investigation sideways as Gently and Bacchus uncover a story of jealousy, ambition and the dark underbelly of the permissive society.
PC Rachel Coles (LISA MCGRILLIS) is now part of the support system for Gently and Bacchus at the police station with her modern policing ways….
Cast includes: PIXIE LOTT in her television drama debut, LEE BOARDMAN (Coronation Street, Great Night Out), NEIL MCDERMOTT (Eastenders, Doctor Who), ANDREA LOWE (DCI Banks, Coronation Street), EMMA FIELDING (The Cranford Chronicles, Waking the Dead), JODIE COMER (My Mad Fat Diary, Casualty) and LISA RILEY (Waterloo Road, Emmerdale).
Gently With Honour also by Jess Williams. When two deaths connect in an unexpected way, Gently finds himself drawn into the world of drugs and LSD, and considering a cold war conspiracy. In the process of his investigation Gently relies on the help of an old friend…
Cast includes: JEMMA REDGRAVE (Cold Blood, Bramwell), CELYN JONES (Da Vinci’s Demons, Casualty), WILLIAM ASH (Waterloo Road) and OLIVER MILBURN (Coronation Street, Mistresses).
Gently Going Under by Mike Cullen sees the painful effects that the pressures on the coal mining industry in Northumberland have on a close-knit pit community.
A suspicious death in the mine in Burnsend leads Gently and Bacchus to explore the tensions and relationships in a community whose seams have been ripped wide open by politics – and discover grudges that date back to World War II.
Cast includes: JACK DEAM (Shameless, DCI Banks), LUCY COHU (The Queen’s Sister, Torchwood, Cape Wrath) and MICHAEL SOCHA (Being Human, This is England ’86).
Transmission dates will be confirmed by the BBC shortly.