Virdee on the case for BBC One

FIRST LOOK: Staz Nair is Harry Virdee, the detective at the heart of the BBC’s latest crime drama Virdee, based on the novels by AA Dhand.

Set and filmed entirely in Bradford, Virdee tells the story of Detective Harry Virdee, a dedicated cop estranged from his Sikh family after marrying Saima, a Muslim woman.

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.

The six-part series is written for the screen by Dhand and is produced by Magical Society for BBC iPlayer and BBC One.

Nair (Rebel Moon) plays Harry Virdee, with Aysha Kala (Criminal Record) as Harry’s wife, Saima and Vikash Bhai (Crossfire, Limbo) as Saima’s brother, Riaz. Kulvinder Ghir (Foundation) and Sudha Bhuchar (Expats) also star as Harry parents, Ranjit and Jyoti, Elizabeth Berrington (Good Omens) is Harry’s boss DS Clare Conway and Danyal Ismail (All the Lights Still Burning) is Harry’s new partner, DS Amin.

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 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).

Hans Zimmer (Interstellar, The Dark Knight) is composing the Virdee title theme with James Everingham for Bleeding Fingers and will also feature Shashwat Sachdev.

It is directed by Mark Tonderai (Gotham, Doctor Who), Milad Alami (When the Dust Settles) and Mo Ali (Hijack, Cobra). The series is executive produced by Paul Trijbits (Jane Eyre) for Magical Society, AA Dhand, and Jo McClellan for the BBC.

Stella Nwimo (Gangs of London) and Himesh Kar (Murder Manual) are the the producers.

Cineflix Rights is handling worldwide distribution outside of the UK.

Virdee will debut next year as part of a yearlong celebration by the BBC in recognition of Bradford as UK City of Culture 2025.

tagged in: AA Dhand, BBC iPlayer, BBC One, Cineflix Rights, Hans Zimmer, Magical Society, Mark Tonderai, Staz Nair, Virdee