Adrian Dunbar's 'Ridley' is Coming to PBS

For Line of Duty fans who need more Adrian Dunbar in their lives, the announcement that he would star in a new ITV detective series, Ridley, was welcome news. But it wasn't clear if the show would cross the pond or where it would end up. BritBox seemed a likely spot, as it has all of Line Of Duty, and its parent company is ITV. But it turns out fans have lucked out, as Ridley is not going to be a streaming service exclusive at all but is instead coming to broadcast. Deadline reports that PBS Distribution has picked up the rights to the forthcoming series.

The new mystery is spearheaded by Paul Matthew Thompson, whose other brainchildren include Vera, Shakespeare & Hathaway, and Father Brown, with co-creator Jonathan Fisher (Hollington Drive). The series is built around Dunbar's popularity as a righteous force in Line of Duty, which here will translate to a character named Detective Inspector Alex Ridley, whose retirement is cut short as he is pressed back into service as a private detecting consultant by his former protégée, Acting DI Carol Farman. Farman will be played by Bronagh Waugh (The Fall). Though the logline currently makes the series appear to be a single case arc per season series, the plan is likely for the two actors to be our newest detective duo.

Thompson and Fisher were inspired to create Ridley after reading about real-life retired detectives who have found themselves re-joining police forces in a consultancy role in recent years, given increasingly over-stretched resources. According to ITV, the plan is for the series to "explore thought-provoking crime stories in an original and distinctive way" by focusing on that angle. Filming for Ridley began in January 2022 and only just wrapped last week, with various locations in Northern England as the series' backdrop.