Stephen Tompkinson, Andrea Lowe and Caroline Catz will all return for six new 60-minute episodes based on three of the novels by author Peter Robinson.

The two-part stories will be titled ‘Wednesday’s Child’, ‘Piece of My Heart’ and ‘Bad Boy’.

Written by lead writer Robert Murphy (Strike Back) and Rob Williams (Holby City), ‘Wednesday’s Child’ will revolve around a strange and sinister child abduction undertaken by a man and a woman claiming to be social workers.

‘Piece of My Heart’, also written by Robert Murphy, sees the body of a journalist in a remote village connect Banks to a death in the 1980s revolving around the surviving members of a cult band.

‘Bad Boy’, written by Cath Tregenna (Lewis), sees a terrible chain of events is set in motion by the discovery of a loaded gun in a young girl’s bedroom, that ultimately puts Banks’ daughter in mortal danger.

Steve November, ITV’s Director of Drama Commissioning, commented: “DCI Banks has become a firm favourite amongst the ITV Drama audience and I’m very pleased we have commissioned a third series. The new stories will pose searching questions for Banks as ultimately he’s forced to take extreme action to keep his team together.”

Executive producer Andy Harries added: “I’m delighted by the continued success of DCI Banks. Stephen Tompkinson and the whole team have turned a hit series of novels into an international success story that began, like so many of the great TV detectives, on ITV.”

Series 3 will begin filming in August in Yorkshire.

> Buy Series 1 on DVD on Amazon.

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