The BBC has revealed a first-look trailer for the new season of Shetland.
The latest run of episodes is set to be the last outing for Douglas Henshall as DI Jimmy Perez, with the actor confirming earlier this week his decision to exit the series.
You can watch the dramatic Shetland season 7 trailer – which sees DI Perez and his team on the hunt for a missing person – below:
Addreessing his character’s impending on-screen departure, Henshall – who has fronted the show since 2013 – said: “After series 5 of Shetland, [series writer] David Kane and I decided we wanted to do two more series to complete the story of Jimmy Perez. So series 6 and 7 were commissioned together to give us time to wrap up Perez’s story to a satisfactory end.
“It’s been one of the privileges of my career to play Jimmy Perez for almost 10 years and to work with so many wonderful people both in front of and behind the camera, and also to spend so much time in Shetland.”
In a subsequent Twitter post, Henshall thanked fans for their support and hinted that he would reveal his reasons for quitting Shetland in the future, writing,”For those that are interested I’ll explain my reasons for leaving later.”
Shetland also stars Alison O’Donnell (as Alison “Tosh” McIntosh), Steven Roberton (as Sandy Wilson) and Mark Bonnar (as Duncan Hunter) and is based on a series of novels by author Ann Cleeves, who told RadioTimes.com in a statement: “It’s sad that Dougie will no longer be playing Jimmy Perez; he was perfect in the role. But I’m delighted that the BBC want to continue filming in these beautiful islands.
“It’ll be exciting to see what happens next.”
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Shetland will return for an eighth season in 2023, with a new actor in the lead, though casting details are yet to be announced.
Executive producer for BBC Drama, Gaynor Holmes, said: “We will miss [Douglas Henshall] enormously but he leaves the show in rude health and we’re extremely excited about the plans we have for bringing more of this much-loved drama to audiences far and wide.”
Shetland season 7 begins in August 2022 on BBC One and BBC iPlayer. Ann Cleeves’ Shetland novels are available to buy now.
Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide to see what’s on tonight.
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