Author AA Dhand will adapt his own Virdee detective novels for the BBC. 

The BBC have a new detective series forthcoming, with Sacha Dhawan (Doctor Who, Wolf) taking the lead role of Detective Harry Virdee. The show was announced at the Edinburgh TV Festival’s Spotlight on the BBC session.

Set in Bradford, writer AA Dhand adapts his own Virdee novels. So far, there have been four; Streets of Darkness, Girl Zero, City of Sinners and One Way Out.

Sacha Dhawan (Image: David Reiss), AA Dhand

Here’s the synopsis for Virdee

The series introduces Detective Harry Virdee (Sacha Dhawan), a Bradford cop disowned by his Sikh family for marrying Saima, who is Muslim. Harry struggles with the abandonment, constantly attempting to reunite with his family. With his personal life in chaos, he must hunt down a killer targeting the Asian community.

When the murderer kidnaps a local MP’s daughter in Bradford and holds the entire city to ransom, Harry realises that he is going to need the help of his brother-in-law Riaz, a drugs kingpin who runs the largest cartel in the county. Pulled together in an alliance that could ruin them both, Harry must make a choice: save himself and his family or save his city. He will not be able to do both.

Writer AA Dhand says:

“Like me, DCI Harry Virdee is a proud Brit who dreams big and whilst he is passionate about his heritage, it is not something which solely defines him. He refuses to be shackled by the past and believes in merging worlds, cultures and identities; no matter the cost. Hey, aim big or go home – this is Yorkshire.”

The series’ executive producers are Paul Trijbits, AA Dhand and Jo McClellan for the BBC. The producer is Stella Nwimo (Gangs of London), co-producers are Gareth Coulam Evans, Callum Dodgson, Sylvie Richards and Karl Hall.

Virdee is a Magical Society production in association with Screen Yorkshire for BBC One and BBC iPlayer. Filming starts later this year in and around Bradford. We’ll keep you posted.