BBC UPCOMING DRAMA HIGHLIGHTS, NEW AND RETURNING TITLES REVEALED

A look at the new and returning drama titles coming to the BBC this year.

 SHETLAND

Alison O’Donnell is bidding farewell to Shetland, the BBC’s acclaimed murder mystery drama. A Silverprint Pictures production, the new series is currently filming in Scotland and will air on BBC iPlayer and BBC One later this year.Alison’s final storyline is part of a thrilling new six-part series of Shetland which centres around an historic murder which will forever change the lives of all those connected in the present day.

 LUDWIG

Picking up from the end of series one, master puzzle-setter John ‘Ludwig’ Taylor (David Mitchell) is now a Crime Scene Consultant, working alongside DCI Russell Carter (Dipo Ola), on ‘impossible’ crimes for the Cambridge Police Authority. No longer having to masquerade as his brother, he’s openly more ‘Ludwig’ than ever - brilliant at solving puzzles but hopeless at everything else.

 RETURN TO PARADISE

DS Mackenzie Clarke (Anna Samson) is back, fresh from having wrecked another of Glenn’s (Tai Hara) weddings and determined never to follow her heart again.

But ignoring her heart won’t be easy.

The arrival of her force-of-nature mother Jillian (Kerry Armstrong) puts Mack's mettle to the ultimate test and there's something undeniable about the raffish charm of the new pathologist Leo (Jacob Collins). And as for Glenn, who has gone away to ‘find himself’, well that's a whole other puzzle for Mack to try and solve ...

 THIS CITY IS OURS

Picking up from where things were left at the end of series one, Michael and Diana have barely arrived in Spain when they are dragged back into the fold to answer questions around Ricardo’s death. Back in Liverpool, tensions continue to bubble amongst the remaining members of the gang. Meanwhile, an old school gangster from Ronnie's era, recently out of prison, wants compensation from the firm.

 ENDLESS NIGHT

It’s 1967 and man-of-many-trades Michael Rogers finds himself working as chauffeur for the enigmatic designer du jour Rudolf Santonix, snatching a glimpse into a glamorous world of outrageous wealth that's far from his own upbringing. Transfixed by Santonix’s latest project, a beautiful house in the English countryside, Mike dreams of meeting the love of his life and taking up residence.

But unbeknownst to Mike, the house that he has set his heart on has a dark past that goes back for centuries. Local legend says that it is haunted by a curse that no one escapes.

 STRIKE

When Sir Colin and Sally Edensor approach Cormoran Strike and Robin Ellacott, they are desperate to reconnect with their estranged son, Will. The Edensors enlist the detectives to gather evidence to discredit the Universal Humanitarian Church, a religious cult who have indoctrinated Will and siphoned off his trust fund.

Led by the charismatic Jonathan Wace, the church is shielded by a charitable façade, celebrity backers and aggressive lawyers who have silenced critics. To investigate allegations of ill-treatment and abuse, Robin goes undercover at the cult’s secluded Norfolk headquarters, Chapman Farm. At the centre of the church’s twisted mythology is the story of the Drowned Prophet, Daiyu, believed to be divinely reincarnated.

 A TALE OF TWO CITIES

London, 1782. Tensions run high in the war between France and Britain. A young woman, Lucie Manette (Mirren Mack) has her life upended when she receives a message from Paris - her father, assumed dead for almost 20 years, may be alive. The messenger - idealistic French emigré, Charles Darnay (François Civil) - is arrested and charged with treason. Lucie enlists the help of a brilliant but erratic young lawyer, Sydney Carton (Kit Harington), to free Darnay in the hope he will lead her to Paris to track down her father. Lucie’s collision with Darnay and Carton unleashes a powerful and complex love triangle.

 TIME

Set within a Young Offenders Institution, the series will explore the impact of locking up teenagers and the effects on those who look after them. Prison Chaplain Marie-Louise comes to the YOI having lost her faith. When tragedy strikes within the prison, Marie-Louise clashes with veteran officer Bailey, a man in the midst of his own crisis. Bailey knows more about the circumstances that led to this major incident – but will he come clean before the guilt gets too much?

 VIGIL

Suranne Jones and Rose Leslie return as DCI Amy Silva and DI Kirsten Longacre. Their new case takes them to a remote Arctic research station, where a member of a covert British special forces mission has been shot dead. Amy and Kirsten will need to catch the killer and diffuse a potential international confrontation, driven by a land-grab for energy and resources in the changing polar climate, with both their careers and relationship on the line.

 SHERWOOD

Six months on, the third series of Sherwood sees a new family at its heart. The Wood family is the picture of working-class respectability – pillars of the community, volunteers at the local church, with Zoe Wood (Craig), in particular, a passionate campaigner on behalf of her town. Husband Alex Wood (Dempsie) is overseeing construction of the new Gotham housing estate which is being built in the shadows of Sherwood Forest, and where they live with their kids and Zoe’s parents, Irene and Eric Bostall (Johnston and Wight), as the estate’s first residents.

Transmission details will be announced in due course.