A fifth season of ITV detective drama DCI Banks has started filming in Yorkshire.

Stephen Tompkinson (Wild At Heart) will reprise his role as DCI Alan Banks alongside Andrea Lowe (Monroe) as DS Annie Cabbot and Caroline Catz (Doc Martin) as DI Helen Morton.

Joining the regulars in the six new episodes are Samuel Anderson (Doctor Who) as Vince, the latest member of Banks’ team, Shaun Dingwall (Silent Witness) as Chief Superintendent Colin Anderson, Shaun Dooley (Ordinary Lies) as hardened career criminal Steve Richards and Maimie McCoy (The Musketeers) as Richards’ wife, Tamsin.

Other returning DCI Banks cast include Jack Deam (Casualty) as DC Ken Blackstone and Keith Barron (Doctors) as Banks’ father, Arthur Banks.

> Buy Season 1 on DVD on Amazon.

Season 5 will feature “self-contained stories told over two episodes, but also, in an explosive serial crime story that weaves throughout the whole series” with DCI Banks “forced to question all that he holds dear, as he pits his detective skills against criminals who will stop at nothing to escape the law.”

The official synopsis reads: “When Banks confronts a powerful adversary who has been dubbed by his superiors as too big to bring down, his dogged pursuit of justice sets in motion a chain of events that rips at the very fabric of his life, both professional and personal. Helen encounters unexpected challenges when she tries for promotion and Annie pursues her own results-driven, gut instinct style of policing which threatens to ruin her relationship with Banks.

“The first story finds Banks drawn into the dark world of self-harm when a school teacher and his pupil are found dead. In the second story, Annie discovers a disturbing secret as the team investigate a kidnap within Leeds’ Chinese community and in the final two episodes, Banks’ team question how far he will go in pursuit of justice when he enters a dangerous cat-and-mouse game to pin down a man who is seemingly outside the reach of the law.”

Season 4 aired on ITV last year.

Are you looking forward to Season 5? Let us know below…