''Inspector George Gently'' (also known as ''George Gently'' for the pilot and first series) is a British

crime drama Crime film is a film belonging to the crime fiction genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and fiction. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine with many other genres, such as Drama (film and television), dr ...

television series produced by

Company Pictures Company Pictures is a British television production company which has produced drama programming for many broadcasters. It was set up in 1998 by Charles Pattinson and George S. J. Faber, George Faber, colleagues at BBC Films. Their first film wa ...

for

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

, set in the 1960s and loosely based on some of the Inspector Gently novels written by Alan Hunter. The series stars

Martin Shaw Martin Shaw (born 21 January 1945) is an English actor. He came to national recognition in the role of Ray Doyle in ITV crime-action television drama series '' The Professionals'' (1977–1983). Further notable television parts include the ti ...

as the

eponymous An eponym is a noun after which or for which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. Adjectives derived from the word ''eponym'' include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Eponyms are commonly used for time periods, places, innovati ...

inspector and

Lee Ingleby Lee David Ingleby (born 28 January 1976) is an English actor who first gained attention with his leading role in the BBC Two miniseries ''Nature Boy'' (2000). His other notable roles include Detective Insp. John Bacchus on the BBC's ''Inspector ...

as Detective Sergeant John Bacchus, with Simon Hubbard and Lisa McGrillis in supporting roles as police constables in the fictitious North East Constabulary. The series moved the setting of the stories to

North East England North East England, commonly referred to simply as the North East within England, is one of nine official regions of England. It consists of County DurhamNorthumberland, , Northumberland, Tyne and Wear and part of northern North Yorkshire. ...

, centring on

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle ( , Received Pronunciation, RP: ), is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is England's northernmost metropolitan borough, located o ...

Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...

, and

County Durham County Durham, officially simply Durham, is a ceremonial county in North East England.UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. The county borders Northumberland and Tyne an ...

, as opposed to the

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

setting in the books. The

death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...

is still in effect in Britain as the series begins, and it is used as a plot feature in some early episodes. The abolition of the death penalty in 1965 is noted in the series. The earliest episodes are set in 1964 with the eighth series taking place in 1970. After fair ratings for the first three series, the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

secured funding from the North East Content Fund to produce further episodes. The fourth series was filmed between January and June 2011, and was broadcast that autumn. On 26 March 2012, the BBC announced that four new feature-length episodes were being produced to be shown later the same year. The fifth series ended on a dramatic cliffhanger, with the fate of both leading characters uncertain. However, in September 2012, the lead writer,

Peter Flannery Peter Flannery (born 12 October 1951) is an English playwright and screenwriter. He was born in Jarrow, Tyne and Wear and educated at the University of Manchester. He is best known for his work while a resident playwright at the Royal Shakespear ...

, confirmed that a sixth series, consisting of four episodes, had been commissioned. The sixth series was shown in February 2014. A seventh series of four episodes was subsequently commissioned, and began being broadcast in April 2015. The eighth and final series was broadcast in 2017.

Cast

as Detective Chief Inspector George Gently *

as Detective Sergeant, later Detective Inspector John Bacchus * Simon Hubbard as PC Taylor * Lisa McGrillis as WPC, later Sergeant Rachel Coles (Series 6–8) *Tom Hutch as PC Tom Reynolds (Series 4–8) *Helen Coverdale as WPC 630 (Series 4–7) *

Seán McGinley Seán McGinley (born 1 March 1956) is an Irish actor. He has appeared in about 80 films and television series. Early life McGinley was born in Pettigo, County Donegal, where his father was a customs officer, and raised in nearby Ballyshanno ...

as China (Pilot) *

Tony Rohr Harold Anthony Rohr (21 May 1939 – 29 October 2023) was an Irish actor. Career Rohr played Grandad in '' The Lakes'' and Solomon Featherstone in ''Middlemarch''. He also appeared in ''The Bill'', ''The Long Good Friday'', '' McVicar'', '' So ...

as China (Series 1–4) *

Melanie Clark Pullen Melanie Clark Pullen (2 July 1975 – 29 March 2022) was an Irish actress, film producer and writer. Career Born and raised in Ireland, Clark Pullen attended Newpark Comprehensive School and then studied drama at Trinity College, Dublin. Shortl ...

as Lisa Bacchus (Series 2–6) *Katie Anderson as Leigh Ann Bacchus (Series 5–6) *

Annabel Scholey Annabel Scholey (born 1983 or 1984) is an English actress. She has performed extensively on stage and is known for her roles in the BBC supernatural drama '' Being Human'' in 2009 and as Anne-Marie Blake in the true crime drama miniseries '' Th ...

as Gemma Nunn (Series 7)

Series overview

Episode list

Pilot (2007)

Series 1 (2008)

Series 2 (2009)

The show's title is changed to 'Inspector' George Gently.

Series 3 (2010)

Series 4 (2011)

The show's theme song and opening credits sequence no longer appear starting with this series.

Series 5 (2012)

Series 6 (2014)

Series 7 (2015)

Series 8 (2017)

Filming for the eighth series began in January 2017. It was subsequently confirmed that this would be the final series, and it would comprise two feature-length episodes, set in 1970, written as a way to "close" the series. Company Pictures CEO Michele Buck commented: "We felt the character was coming to a natural end, and wanted to bring the audience an ambitious and exciting conclusion to such a well-loved show." Episode Two was originally set to air on 28 May 2017, but was postponed due to its proximity to the general election in the UK, given that the storyline – not confirmed at the time – dealt with a controversial politician.

DVD

* Region 2 ''George Gently: Series 1'' DVD Released 25 May 2009, EAN: 5036193096297

PAL Phase Alternating Line (PAL) is a color encoding system for analog television. It was one of three major analogue colour television standards, the others being NTSC and SECAM. In most countries it was broadcast at 625 lines, 50 fields (25 ...

Format

Region 0 DVD region codes are a digital rights management technique introduced in 1997. It is designed to allow rights holders to control the international distribution of a DVD release, including its content, release date, and price, all according to t ...

in the UK, distributed by

Acorn Media UK RLJE International Ltd, d/b/a Acorn Media, a British company that publishes and distributes DVDs, as well as selling home-video products and streaming videos with a particular focus on British television. History Launched in 1997, Acorn Media ...

. *Region 2 ''Inspector George Gently: Series 2'' DVD Released 24 May 2010, EAN: 5036193097874 PAL Format Region 0 in the UK, distributed by Acorn Media UK. *Region 2 ''Inspector George Gently: Complete Series 1 & 2'' DVD Released 4 October 2010, EAN: 5036193099915 PAL Format Region 0 in the UK, distributed by Acorn Media UK. *Region 2 ''Inspector George Gently: Complete Series 1–6'' DVD Released 4 August 2014, PAL Format Region 0 in the UK, distributed by Acorn Media UK. *Region 2 ''George Gently – Der Unbestechliche, Volume 1'' DVD Released 19 June 2009, EAN: 4029758960882 PAL Format in Germany, distributed by edel distribution. *Region 2 ''George Gently – Der Unbestechliche, Volume 2'' DVD Released 20 May 2011, EAN: 4029759044284 PAL Format in Germany, distributed by edel distribution. *Region 2 ''George Gently – Der Unbestechliche, Volume 3'' DVD Released 10 June 2011, EAN: 4029759067931 PAL Format in Germany, distributed by edel distribution. * Region 1 ''George Gently: Series 1'' DVD Released 11 November 2008, ASIN: B001B43IUS

NTSC NTSC (from National Television System Committee) is the first American standard for analog television, published and adopted in 1941. In 1961, it was assigned the designation System M. It is also known as EIA standard 170. In 1953, a second ...

Format in the US, distributed by

Acorn Media US The acorn is the nut of the oaks and their close relatives (genera ''Quercus'', ''Notholithocarpus'' and ''Lithocarpus'', in the family Fagaceae). It usually contains a seedling surrounded by two cotyledons (seedling leaves), enclosed in a ...

. *Region 1 ''George Gently: Series 2'' DVD Released 25 May 2010, ASIN: B00331RHCM NTSC Format in the US, distributed by Acorn Media US. *Region 1 ''George Gently: Series 3'' DVD Released 28 June 2011, ASIN: B004SI5VUY NTSC Format in the US, distributed by Acorn Media US. *Region 1 ''George Gently: Series 4'' DVD Released 3 July 2012, ASIN: B007S0DEB2 NTSC Format in the US, distributed by Acorn Media US. *Region 1 ''George Gently: Series 5'' DVD Released 28 May 2013, ASIN: B009DS3VQA NTSC Format in the US, distributed by Acorn Media US. *Region 1 ''George Gently: Series 6'' DVD Released 1 April 2014, ASIN: B00GWXI1F0 NTSC Format in the US, distributed by Acorn Media US. *Region 1 ''George Gently: Series 7'' DVD Released 29 September 2015, ASIN: B00XDBMB8W NTSC Format in the US, distributed by Acorn Media US. *Region 1 ''George Gently: Series 8'' DVD Released 12 December 2017, ASIN: B074WTYF4G NTSC Format in the US, distributed by Acorn Media US. * Region 4 ''George Gently: Series 1'' DVD Released 17 September 2009, EAN: 9397910797498 PAL Format in Australia, distributed by REEL DVD Australia. *Region 4 ''George Gently: Series 2'' DVD Released 4 March 2010, EAN: 9397911012293 PAL Format in Australia, distributed by REEL DVD Australia. *Region 4 ''George Gently: Series 1 & 2'' DVD Released 5 May 2011, EAN: 9397911120899 PAL Format in Australia, distributed by REEL DVD Australia. *Region 4 ''George Gently: Series 3'' DVD Released 7 July 2011, EAN: 9397911102291 PAL Format in Australia, distributed by REEL DVD Australia. *Region 4 ''George Gently: Series 4'' DVD Released 1 May 2013, EAN: 9397911234497 PAL Format in Australia, distributed by REEL DVD Australia. *Region 4 ''George Gently: Series 5'' DVD Released 1 May 2013, EAN: 9397911246995 PAL Format in Australia, distributed by REEL DVD Australia. *Region 4 ''George Gently: Series 6'' DVD Released 2014, PAL Format in Australia, distributed by REEL DVD Australia. *Region 4 ''George Gently: Series One to Six'' DVD Released 4 March 2015: EAN 9349055001107 PAL Format in Australia, distributed by REEL DVD Australia. *Region 4 ''George Gently: Series 7'' DVD Released 8 October 2015: EAN 9349055001497 PAL Format In Australia, distributed by REEL DVD Australia. *Region 4 ''George Gently: Series One to Seven'' DVD Released 17 December 2015, EAN: 9349055003095 PAL Format In Australia, distributed by REEL DVD Australia. *Region 4 ''George Gently: Series 7'' DVD Released 5 August 2017, EAN: 9349055001497 PAL Format in Australia, distributed by Madman Entertainment. *Region 4 ''George Gently: Series 8'' DVD Released 13 December 2017, EAN: 9349055003538 PAL Format in Australia, distributed by Madman Entertainment. *Region 4 ''George Gently: Series One to Eight'' DVD Released 8 March 2018: EAN: 9349055003552 PAL FORMAT in Australia, distributed by Madman Entertainment.

References

External links

* * *{{epguides, GeorgeGently, Inspector George Gently
''Inspector George Gently''
at the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves filmmaking and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

''George Gently'' press pack
from the BBC Press Office, 2007
''Radio Times'' Martin Shaw interview
February 2014 2007 British television series debuts 2017 British television series endings 2000s British crime television series 2010s British crime television series 2000s British drama television series 2010s British drama television series 2000s British mystery television series 2010s British mystery television series BBC television dramas Television shows based on British novels Television series set in the 1960s Television series by All3Media Television shows set in Tyne and Wear Television shows set in County Durham British detective television series British English-language television shows Gently, George