RIDLEY: ITV DETECTIVE DRAMA ENDS AFTER TWO SERIES, BROADCASTER CONFIRMS NO PLANS FOR A THIRD

Following its second series which aired last Summer, ITV have confirmed it has no plans for a third series of detective drama Ridley, which starred Adrian Dunbar in the lead role.

An ITV spokesperson confirmed to TV Zone: "There are currently no plans to return to Ridley. We'd like to extend our thanks to creator and writer Paul Matthew Thompson, executive producer Jonathan Fisher and the team at West Road Pictures for producing two successful series."

Last series saw the retired detective turned police consultant resume his partnership with former protégée DI Carol Farman, played by Bronagh Waugh (The Suspect, Unforgotten, The Fall), who is now in charge of investigations.

In the opening episode, Ridley start to investigate when a jewellery heist turns violent and the thieves take off with their stolen loot. After an interested party is killed in broad daylight, Ridley and Carol have a race against time to discover the identity of the criminal mastermind behind the whole operation.

Meanwhile, Dunbar will return with the seventh series of Jed Mercurio’s hit thriller Line of Duty alongside Martin Compston and Vicky McClure for BBC One. Line of Duty last aired in 2021, and the series six finale was the biggest drama episode since modern records began in 2002.

In series seven AC-12 has been disbanded and rebranded the Inspectorate of Police Standards. Anticorruption work has never been more difficult and in this challenging climate Steve Arnott (Martin Compston), Kate Fleming (Vicky McClure) and Ted Hastings (Adrian Dunbar) are assigned their most sensitive case so far.

Detective Inspector Dominic Gough, a charismatic officer winning plaudits for a string of takedowns of organised crime, is accused of abusing his position of trust to act as a sexual predator. But is Gough’s case a deliberate distraction from a bigger threat still operating in the shadows?

Creator, writer and executive producer Jed Mercurio says: “Everyone involved in Line of Duty feels enormous gratitude to the show’s fans. We’re privileged to have had so many of you follow the ups and downs of AC-12 over six previous seasons and we couldn’t be more delighted to be returning for a seventh. Corruption in this country is supposed to have come to an end while Line of Duty was off air so I’ve been forced to use my imagination.”

Previous series of Ridley are available on ITVX.