Mother of God! It’s the singing detective

ADRIAN DUNBAR was last seen as granite-faced Superintendent Ted Hastings in the BBC’s popular Line Of Duty. For six series, darling Ted has been hunting bent coppers and trying to unmask the mysterious H.

Now Dunbar returns as a very different crimebuster in new ITV police drama Ridley, which starts soon.

He plays a former detective coaxed out of retirement by a complex murder case. ‘All those years of distinguished service, they don’t count for much,’ he grumbles, nursing a whisky.

So far, so predictable. However, the twist is that Very Sad Ridley — there is much trauma and bereavement in his life — co-owns a jazz club.

Yes! And that he likes to go there and sing his troubles away. No? YES! In the first episode, alone in the club in the wee small hours, he plays the piano and croons The Mountains o’ Mourne. And in a later scene he sings the beautiful Richard Hawley song Coles Corner.

Oh my goodness and the wee donkey, too.

If you like melancholy songs delivered in a Jim Reeves-tastic style by an authoritarian figure in a cosy jumper — and I do — then this show is for you.

In real life, Dunbar fronts his own band. Sure, he is no novice who floated up the Lagan in a bubble — but to appear as a singing detective in a serious police drama is a bold, wild and risky move.

However, after seeing a preview I have to say that, somehow, he gets away with it. Bravo!