We bloomin’ love a crime drama – especially when they’re filmed in Yorkshire. The likes of Happy Valley and Better have us on the edge of our seats. And, now another BBC thriller set and filmed entirely in Bradford set to launch next year as part of the City of Culture celebrations.
The BBC reports that the six-part drama, Virdee, based on the novels by local author AA Dhand, tells the story of a detective who is estranged from his Sikh family after marrying a Muslim woman. It is set to star Game of Thrones star Staz Nair, who played Qhono a Dothraki warrior and lieutenant in the Targaryen army, as Detective Harry Virdee.
Nair is joined by Aysha Kala playing his wife Saima and Danyal Ismail as his new partner DS Amin. Other actors include Nina Singh (The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry) will play Tara Virdee, Harry’s niece and an up-and-coming crime reporter and Manjinder Virk (The Arbor) will play Harry’s sister, Mandip.
The drama is a great celebration of West Yorkshire with more than two-thirds of the participants, tutors and consultants coming from the West Yorkshire area. The Virdee cast also includes Tomi May (Justice League), Andi Jashy (Gangs of London), Hussina Raja (Look at Us), Yousef Naseer (Ackley Bridge), Akshay Kumar (Double Blind), Madiha Ansari (Home Sick), Nichola Burley (Wuthering Heights), Javed Khan (A Murder At The End of the World) and Ramon Tikaram (Brassic).
If that wasn’t all, the multi-award-winning composer Hans Zimmer is composing the Virdee title theme with James Everingham for Bleeding Fingers and will also feature Shashwat Sachdev. They also used two trainees from Screen Academy Bradford to help Bleeding Fingers- getting hands-on experience in composing for the screen in the process.
The synopsis for the new BBC drama reads: “A turf war is brewing in the underbelly of the city with the police losing its grip on gang rivalries as they spill out onto the streets of Bradford. When a young dealer is murdered, Harry’s duty to uphold the law clashes with his links to members of the crime gangs. With his personal life in chaos, he must hunt down whoever is targeting those around him.
“Whilst the killer 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.”
A spokesperson said: “By investing in regional talent, Screen Academy Bradford not only supports the creative community in West Yorkshire but also ensures that the stories told on screen resonate with, and reflect the richness of the communities from which they emerge.”
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Feature Image Credit: BBC
