Season 1
In his first literary adaptation for television, Our Friends In The North writer Peter Flannery re-visits Sixties Britain for George Gently, an adaptation of the Inspector Gently series of novels by Alan Hunter.
Martin Shaw stars in the title role, and he is joined by Lee Ingleby as ambitious Detective Sergeant John Bacchus.
Britain, 1964: a time when the line between the police and criminals has become increasingly blurred; when the proliferation of drugs is about to change the face of policing forever; when Britain's youth stand on the brink of a social and sexual revolution.
Inspector George Gently is one of the few good men at Scotland Yard, his sense of public duty an increasingly rare commodity in a police force where corruption is rife and unchecked.
The first of the two self-contained dramas, The Burning Man, sees the badly burnt body of an unidentified man draw Gently and Bacchus into the shadowy world of IRA gun-running, and into direct opposition with ruthless Special Branch officer Superintendent Empton (Robert Glenister).
The impressionable Bacchus is intrigued by Empton's harsh interrogation technique, but Gently is suspicious of his motives.
With their victim identified as a prominent IRA member and marksman in the Border Campaign, Gently's subsequent pursuit of justice leads to a tense showdown with all guns blazing.
The second film is Bomber's Moon, which sees Gently and Bacchus investigating the death of Gunter Schmeikel, a returning German POW whose body is found in the harbour of a small fishing village.
The case uncovers both present violence and past grievances as Gently and Bacchus explore Schmeikel's wartime connections – including those to locals Jim Hardyment (Tim Healy) and Robert Stratton (Kevin Doyle).
A thrilling race against time ensues as Gently and Bacchus attempt to discover the identity of the mystery killer before anyone else perishes.
George Gently is a Company Pictures production, executive produced by Peter Flannery, George Faber and Charles Pattinson for Company Pictures, Andrew Lowe for Element Films, and Polly Hill for BBC One.
It is produced by Jake Lushington (Mysterious Creatures) and directed by Ciaran Donnelly (The Tudors).