Channel 4 recommission No Offence and two new dramas

As promised, a look at the new dramas due to air on Channel 4, following my recent BBC roundup.

No classic literature adaptations from our other public service broadcaster, but a welcome return to another of our must see police procedurals (with its healthy dose of irreverence to said procedures), No Offence.

Following two startlingly, eminently watchable series, a third is in production, with the regular cast in play again.

Joanna Scanlon is the brash and bold yet caring on-your-side Inspector Viv Deering, only ever upstaged by the scene stealing Paul Ritter as forensics expert Miller, with his colourful turn of phrase and brilliant deductions.

Unusually, we don’t only have a female leading investigator, we have a whole team of capable strong women, as Deering is supported by her Friday Street station colleagues: Elaine Cassidy’s impulsive DC Dinah Kowalska, Alexandra Roach as shy but competent DS Joy Freers, and Saira Choudhry’s kick ass PC Tegan Thompson. Will Mellor, Tom Varey, Ste Johnson and Neet Mohan provide smart and loyal backup.

Series 3 is a timely story of far right politics, an assassination attempt and hate crimes. The team find themselves in the middle of the political chess match as they draw on all their strengths to restore peace in their community.

Creator and writer Paul Abbott (Shameless), working on the series at his Writers’ Studio alongside Paul Tomalin, Jimmy Dowdall and Caleb Ranson, says: “It’s a privilege to dive back into the very British chaos of Inspector Viv Deering and her No Offence police family. I think we’ve struck a great deal with our audience. They expect nothing but the tilted best and we’re truly honoured to serve. Chucking wicked humour at grim reality is a great cocktail for digesting the real world and pretending to make sense of it. Sleeves up! We’re off again.”

As if the BAFTA winning writer Jack Thorne (National Treasure) and BAFTA winning actor Sarah Lancashire (Happy Valley) didn’t have enough talent to power a show on their own, C4, in partnership with Hulu, has brought them together on compelling four-parter, Kiri.

The series examines the abduction and death of Kiri, a young black girl soon-to-be-adopted by a white foster family, that results in a trail of lies, blame, guilt and notoriety.

Lancashire plays no-nonsense social worker Miriam, who follows her heart with regard to the children in her care. However, when Kiri disappears following an unsupervised visit to her biological grandparents, suspicion and blame head Miriam’s way.

The subsequent media intrusion unsettles both Kiri’s natural grandfather Tobi (Lucian Msamati – Taboo, Luther), whose son is the main suspect in the child’s death, while Alice (Lia Williams – The Missing, The Crown), Kiri’s new foster mother, sees her own family begin to crumble.

George Ormond, co-executive producer, says: “Following Miriam, Tobi and Alice as their lives are put under the spotlight is utterly compelling, an emotional rollercoaster. It’s typical of Jack’s writing that it leaves you torn – you love them, and question them at the same time. We’re delighted to have attracted such a wonderful cast, and to be working with Jack again.”

C4 Head of Drama, Beth Willis, has been super busy and takes us to the middle east for crime thriller Baghdad Central, set against the backdrop of the beleaguered and Saddam-less city in 2003.

The six parter from writer Stephen Butchard (The Last Kingdom, House of Saddam) is based on a novel by Elliott Colla, and introduces us to Iraqi ex-policeman Muhsin al-Khafaji, who must work with British ex-police officer Frank Citrone in the Green Zone, in exchange for supplies to care for his sick daughter.

Add into the mix a promise to help find his brother-in-law’s missing niece and we’re promised a powerfully authentic edge-of-the-seat thriller. Casting is yet to be announced but filming and transmission is scheduled for next year.

Willis says: “We are thrilled to be working with Euston Films and Stephen Butchard in this powerful, pertinent and poetic drama – a gripping thriller with contemporary resonance at every turn. Stephen has created the perfect modern reluctant hero in Inspector Khafaji – a stubborn, wry and brilliant policeman whose love of his daughter and sense of humanity knows no bounds.”

How much excitement can we take? Best we stock our cupboards with lots of strong tea.