Adrian Dunbar, the bastion of AC-12, is back on screens this weekend in ITV’s brand new crime drama Ridley as the titular detective lured out of retirement.
Based on real-life stories of retired cops rejoining the police force to assist on investigations, Ridley is called back to duty by his former partner to help with a missing persons case that has been cold for 13 years.
Led by Dunbar, the ensemble also includes former Hollyoaks actress Bronagh Waugh, Terence Maynard and Call the Midwife star Georgie Glen.
The series is set in the North of England with much of the filming done on location in and around Lancashire with Dunbar commenting that it’s the first time he has worked there.
He explained: “I didn’t know Manchester; I didn’t know the areas around Manchester. But I absolutely loved working there. It was great. I had a great time in Manchester.”
Read on for everything you need to know about where the show is set and where Ridley was filmed.
Where is Ridley filmed?
Ridley was filmed largely on location across northern England including sites in Lancashire and Yorkshire.
Among the locations used were the Todmorden Wind Farm on the Lancashire/Yorkshire border, as well as the local canal for a scene in episode 3.
There were also scenes shot in Bolton on Le Mans Crescent which were watched by locals excited by a production rolling into town. According to eyewitnesses, there were a number of extras dressed up as barristers for the scenes, which were shot at Bolton’s most famous landmark.
Dunbar was also complimentary about the location shooting up north, saying: “There were some really interesting areas that we went to, and some beautiful places as well. We filmed in the winter, so it was cold, and it was bleak. But all those things will add to the atmosphere of the piece.”
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Waugh added that filming in the north helps separate Ridley from other detective dramas, commenting: “Set against the backdrop of this stunning Yorkshire and Lancashire vista makes it a very different show. It’s very rural. It feels like a small village or town, and that’s what sets it apart. It’s not trying to be a gritty city drama.”
She added: “It has a unique flavour of being set in the north of England. So there is that toughness and that hardiness that you get there, but with the wonderful warmth that you get in the north of England.”
Filmed over the winter, the show made effective use of a bad winter that at one point caused production to shut down due to flooding.
Waugh said the northern weather helped give the show its aesthetic: “We’d spent six months outside in this stunningly epic, dramatic backdrop. I think every murder that we investigate, there is epic rain, epic wind – there’s a different element in every episode. We’ve got snow, we’ve got rain, we’ve got sleet, we’ve got gale force winds, over the whole series, which is perfect.”
Where is Ridley set?
Ridley is set across Lancashire and northern England unlike many other crime dramas that are set in London. Specifically, Ridley occurs on the border of Yorkshire and Lancashire and the location is key to the show’s identity.
As writer Paul Matthew Thompson says: “That particular area, the Yorkshire-Lancashire border, gives a sense of isolation. Obviously, it’s very beautiful, but it’s also a stark, bleak beauty.
“The people are very important. They’re very much a product of the place that they grow up in. There’s a fierce pride, and people are sometimes insular and guarded. They say people up north are friendly, and they are – I’m a northerner myself – they will talk to you in a way people don’t perhaps in the bigger cities.”
Read more:
- Ridley’s Adrian Dunbar on his “tragic” and “complicated” new detective
- Ridley’s Adrian Dunbar weighs in on Ted Hastings comparisons
Ridley will air on ITV at 8pm on Sunday 28th August 2022. If you’re looking for more to watch, check out our TV Guide. Visit our Drama hub for all the latest news.
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