SECRETS FROM THE SET

UTV’s brooding cop drama casts Line Of Duty’s Adrian Dunbar as retired DI Alex Ridley, who consults on murder cases in a fictional town over four feature-length episodes. We meet Ridley soon after the deaths of his wife and daughter, and the sets and mood reflect his grief and longing for comfort.

Shot on location last winter, this ‘Northern noir’ features the bleak, rugged landscapes of Lancashire and Yorkshire, with a colour palette of rust reds, greens and greyblues. ‘We’re in an autumnal mood,’ says series producer

Juliet Charlesworth. ‘The skies are heavy and the leaves are falling.’ This moody landscape reflects Ridley’s sadness as much as the disturbing murders that take place in the unnamed town.

But filming in January and February presented its challenges — while shooting episode one, temperatures dropped so low that the pipes froze over and the cast and crew had no access to water or a toilet.

Ridley (below) is stuck in the past — he wears a retro leather jacket and croons old jazz numbers at the club he co-owns — so the overarching aesthetic is nostalgic and nicotine-stained. ‘He wants to pull a comfort blanket over himself, like any of us who have been around a little while, in times of stress you think you want to go back to 1972,’ reflects Juliet.

The location that most represents this is Ridley’s house. Following the loss of his family he’s moved into a new place and it’s full of unpacked boxes to show his state of solitude. The team found the perfect location at a wind surfing centre near Rochdale, transforming the clubhouse into Ridley’s hideaway, where he’s surrounded by his jazz records and photos. It’s among these relics of the past that Ridley falls asleep on a forest green velvet sofa, chosen for its textural warmth.

The police station where Ridley returns to work as a consultant (above) is also rooted in the past. It was filmed at the former Bolton Magistrates Court, an expansive 1930s Grade II-listed building which has featured in other hit shows, including Peaky Blinders. ‘Lots of modern police stations look like branches of Aldi, but this felt like a place that had lived and breathed before, like Ridley himself,’ says Juliet.

Ridley casts off his worries by singing in his jazz club (top). This set was built from scratch in a room at the Magistrates Court — the designers wanted it to look more colourful than the other locations, so went for a 1950s American vibe, with kitsch old fittings such as beaded lamps from eBay and a bar built from reclaimed stained glass. ‘The sense that everything was used and reused shows that — like Ridley — life isn’t over just yet,’ says Juliet. ‘It’s still got something left to give.’ -Shivani Kochhar