Inspector George Gently (BBC-1 2007-2017, Martin Shaw, Lee Ingleby)

In his first literary adaptation for television, Our Friends In The North writer Peter Flannery re-visits Sixties Britain for George Gently, an adaptation for BBC One of one of the Inspector Gently series of novels by Alan Hunter.

Martin Shaw stars in the title role, and he is joined by a first-rate cast including Phil Davis, Richard Armitage and Lee Ingleby.

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.

But his relentless pursuit of notorious gangsters such as Joe Webster (Phil Davis, Bleak House and Poldark) leads to the murder of Gently’s beloved wife Isabella, a killing arranged by Webster himself in an act of revenge upon Gently.

The series captured the era pretty well and by the time of the eighth and final season events had moved on to 1970 and Gently was getting ready for retirement.

cast
Martin Shaw as Chief Inspector George Gently
Lee Ingleby as Detective Inspector John Bacchus
Simon Hubbard as PC Taylor (Series 1-8)
Lisa McGrillis as Sergeant Rachel Coles (Series 6-8)
Tom Hutch as PC Tom Reynolds (Series 4-8)
Tony Rohr as China (Series 1-4)
Melanie Clark Pullen as Lisa Bacchus (Series 2-6)
Katie Anderson as Leigh Ann Bachhus (Series 5-6)
Annabel Scholey as Gemma Nunn (Series 7)

key behind the scenes crew
Peter Flannery as Creator / Executive Producer
Alan Hunter as Original author
Polly Hill as Executive Producer
George Faber as Executive Producer
Charles Pattinson as Executive Producer

show type
Period crime drama

broadcast from
8 April 2007 – 28 May 2017

network and production companies
BBC One – Company Pictures