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Ridley… Alex Ridley, played by Adrian Dunbar. Father to a murdered daughter, husband to a murdered wife. And he will have his vengeance, in this life or the next… Okay, I embellished on that last bit.
On the other hand, he’s a retired ex-copper, who now runs a jazz club… nice.
But like Al Pacino in The Godfather Part III, just when he thinks he’s out, they want to pull him back in, and his replacement, DI Carol Farman (Our House‘s Bronagh Waugh – who like others on Twitter, I also thoughts was journalist Grace Dent), needs his help with farmer Jessie Halpin getting bumped off in the woods, and trying to find out whodunit.
Along the way, they interview suspects including a man who had an altercation with the deceased – and also dated their daughter, there’s speculation about the abduction of a girl called Zoe from 14 years ago – who was never found and whether the two cases are linked, and there’s a lot of mumbling, making me wish this preview had subtitles.
Sadly, for this opener, it feels very by-the-numbers: Senior staff grumbling at younger newbies like Carol, who’s taking over from Ridley, but still needs his help this one last time. Plus, it’s one of those dramas where they put so many characters in the tertiary cast, that it coudl be anyone for any reason, since they’ve got 2hrs to fill!
Add in scenes in this which are beyond cliched, and as for who did it… I didn’t really care by the time the reveal came along.
As for Mr Dunbar, Ridley may as well be Ted Hastings having shaken the Line of Duty from his past, and retired to run his jazz club… nice (worth a second bite of the cherry with that one).
So, I wasn’t wowed by this, but then it’s a Sunday ITV 8pm drama running for two hours at a time, and does what it says on the tin. As such, whatever anyone’s thoughts, it’ll be commmissioned for ten series and run on ITV4 for decades to come.
Ridley continues next Sunday on ITV at 8pm. It’s available to pre-order on Blu-ray and DVD, ahead of the release date of October 17th.
After each episode is broadcast, they will be on the ITV Player.
Series Directors: Paul Gay, Bryn Higgins, Noreen Kershaw
Producer: Juliet Charlesworth
Writers: Paul Matthew Thompson, Julia Gilbert
Music: Ben Foster
Cast:
Alex Ridley: Adrian Dunbar
Annie Marling: Julie Graham
DCI Paul Goodwin: Terence Maynard
DI Carol Farman: Bronagh Waugh
DC Darren Lakhan: George Bukhari
Adam Moreland: Reece Douglas
Michael Flannery: Aidan McArdle
Dr. Wendy Newstone: Georgie Glen
Catherine Halpin: Alexandra Hannant
Firefighter: John Crook
Kit Mckellen: Zak Douglas
Jenna Noble: Rhiannon Clements
Elena Mondello: Pat Dynowska
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.