Prolific crime writer Ann Cleeves told RadioTimes.com<\/a> exclusively: \u201cIt\u2019s sad that Dougie will no longer be playing Jimmy Perez; he was perfect in the role. But I\u2019m delighted that the BBC want to continue filming in these beautiful islands.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019ll be exciting to see what happens next.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Henshall has played lead DI Jimmy Perez in all six seasons, the first of which aired back in 2013, and is set to appear in season 7<\/a>. But that will be his final outing in the role.\u00a0<\/span><\/p> \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAfter series 5 of Shetland, 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\u2019s story to a satisfactory end.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n Henshall added: \u201cThe Isles were so much a part of our show and of Perez himself. I\u2019ll miss him and the place. I wish everyone involved much luck with whatever happens next.\u201d<\/p>\n Executive producer for BBC Drama Gaynor Holmes said: \u201cWe will miss him enormously but he leaves the show in rude health and we\u2019re extremely excited about the plans we have for bringing more of this much loved drama to audiences far and wide.\u201d<\/p>\n Henshall hasn\u2019t gone into detail about the decision<\/a>, writing on Twitter<\/a>: \u201cBeen a weird day. Thank you for all the kind words about Shetland. The people, all around the world who followed Jimmy Perez over the years and empathised with him, thank you, it was very much appreciated.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cFor those that are interested I\u2019ll explain my reasons for leaving later.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Season 8 has already been confirmed, which means the hunt is now on for his replacement.<\/p>\n Place your bets\u2026<\/p>\n Shetland season 7 begins in August 2022 on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.\u00a0<\/strong>Meanwhile, Ann Cleeves\u2019 Shetland novels<\/a> are available to buy now.<\/strong><\/p>\n Check out more of our\u00a0Drama<\/a>\u00a0coverage or visit our\u00a0TV Guide<\/a>\u00a0to see what\u2019s on tonight.<\/strong><\/p>\n The latest issue of Radio Times magazine is on sale now \u2013\u00a0subscribe now<\/a>\u00a0and get the next 12 issues for only \u00a31. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to the\u00a0Radio Times podcast<\/a> with Jane Garvey.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/body><\/html>\n By Abby Robinson Published: Friday, 22 July 2022 at 12:00 am The author of the Shetland novels on which the long-running BBC series is based has responded to Douglas Henshall\u2019s exit from the show. Prolific crime writer Ann Cleeves told RadioTimes.com exclusively: \u201cIt\u2019s sad that Dougie will no longer be playing Jimmy Perez; he was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":18981,"template":"","categories":[1,5],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/07\/shetland-author-reacts-to-douglas-henshall-exit-he-was-perfect.jpg",1576,1080,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/07\/shetland-author-reacts-to-douglas-henshall-exit-he-was-perfect-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/07\/shetland-author-reacts-to-douglas-henshall-exit-he-was-perfect-300x206.jpg",300,206,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/07\/shetland-author-reacts-to-douglas-henshall-exit-he-was-perfect-768x526.jpg",768,526,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/07\/shetland-author-reacts-to-douglas-henshall-exit-he-was-perfect-1024x702.jpg",800,548,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/07\/shetland-author-reacts-to-douglas-henshall-exit-he-was-perfect-1536x1053.jpg",1536,1053,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/07\/shetland-author-reacts-to-douglas-henshall-exit-he-was-perfect.jpg",1576,1080,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Abby Robinson Published: Friday, 22 July 2022 at 12:00 am The author of the Shetland novels on which the long-running BBC series is based has responded to Douglas Henshall\u2019s exit from the show. Prolific crime writer Ann Cleeves told RadioTimes.com exclusively: \u201cIt\u2019s sad that Dougie will no longer be playing Jimmy Perez; he was…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/18980"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2021\/10\/23279552-high_res-shetland-s6-315bdcc.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C401"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
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