Shetland (TV series)

Shetland
Series title over a view of the sea and cliff
Genre	Mystery
Starring	Douglas Henshall Alison O'Donnell Steven Robertson Mark Bonnar Julie Graham
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language(s)	English (local/regional Scottish)
No. of series	3
No. of episodes	14 (list of episodes)
Production
Running time	60 minutes
Production company(s)	ITV Studios for BBC Scotland
Release
Original network	BBC One
Picture format	HDTV (1080i)
Audio format	Stereo
Original release	10 March 2013 (2013-03-10) – present
External links
Website

Shetland is a BBC Scotland crime drama television series starring Douglas Henshall as Detective Inspector Jimmy Perez. The story takes place largely on the Scottish archipelago of Shetland, though much of the filming was done on the Scottish mainland, with some on location in Shetland. It was largely based on the novels by Ann Cleeves.

Production history

The first series consists of two episodes as a pilot – a single two-part story based on the novel Red Bones by Ann Cleeves. It was broadcast on 10 and 11 March 2013. Subsequently, a full second series was commissioned by the BBC. Series two contains six episodes, filmed in 2013 and screened in 2014. It features three two-part stories based on Ann Cleeves' novels Raven Black, Dead Water, and Blue Lightning. Filming began in April 2015 for a third series which began screening on 15 January 2016.

Series overview

Season		Episodes	Originally aired
			First aired	Last aired
	1	2	10 March 2013 (2013-03-10)	11 March 2013 (2013-03-11)
	2	6	11 March 2014 (2014-03-11)	15 April 2014 (2014-04-15)
	3	6	15 January 2016 (2016-01-15)	4 March 2016 (2016-03-04)

Cast

Main cast

• Douglas Henshall as Detective Inspector Jimmy Perez (Series 1– )
• Steven Robertson as Police Constable/Detective Constable Sandy Wilson (Series 1– )
• Alison O'Donnell as Detective Constable/Detective Sergeant Alison 'Tosh' MacIntosh (Series 1– )
• Stewart Porter/Lewis Howden as Sgt Billy McBride (Porter: Series 1–2, Howden: Series 3– )
• Erin Armstrong as Cassie Perez (Series 1– )
• Mark Bonnar as Duncan Hunter (Series 1– )
• Anne Kidd as Cora McLean, forensic pathologist (Series 2– )
• Julie Graham as Rhona Kelly, Procurator Fiscal (Series 2– )

Additional cast

Series 1

• Sandra Voe as Mima Wilson
• Claire Rafferty as Anna Haldane
• Jim Sturgeon as Ronald Haldane
• Gemma Chan as Hattie James
• Lindy Whiteford as Jackie Haldane
• James Greene as Andrew Haldane
• Martin Wenner as Professor Paul Berglund
• Alexander Morton as Joseph Wilson

Series 2

• Kari Corbett as Evie Watt
• Brian Cox as Magnus Bain
• Alex Norton as Cameron Watt
• Nina Sosanya as Willow Reeves
• Sophia Carr-Gomm as Catherine Ross
• Marnie Baxter as Jenny Belshaw
• Iain Robertson as Jerry Markham
• John Lynch as Frank Blake
• Bill Paterson as James Perez
• Leigh Biagi as Anna Blake
• Anthony Howell as Peter Latimer
• David Ireland as Finlay Caulfield
• Julie Hale as Tessa Warren
• Keith Ramsey as Joe Blake

Series 3

• Ciarán Hinds as Michael Maguire
• Saskia Reeves as Freya Galdie
• Sara Vickers as Leanne Randall
• Andrew Rothney as Robbie Morton
• Archie Panjabi as Asha Israni
• Anna Chancellor as Phyllis Brennan
• James Cosmo as Arthur MacCall
• Jamie Michie as Lowrie
• Jack Greenlees as Craig Cooper
• Kate Donnelly as Grace
• Mark Cox as Tommy Monro
• Struan Rodger as Alec
• Ace Bhatti as Calvin Sarwar

Episode list

Series 1 (2013)

The first series was produced by Sue de Beauvoir.

Overall No.	Series No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	UK viewers (million)
1	1	"Red Bones – Part 1"	Peter Hoar	David Kane	10 March 2013 (2013-03-10)	7.97
Elderly Shetlander Mima Wilson is found murdered on the archaeological site in the grounds of her croft. Detective Inspector Jimmy Perez and his team investigate and find that somehow the murder is linked to the Shetland bus.
2	2	"Red Bones – Part 2"	Peter Hoar	David Kane	11 March 2013 (2013-03-11)	5.68
With two murders and no strong leads, Detective Inspector Perez and his team must apprehend the suspect before crowds descend on the Shetland Islands for Up Helly Aa, the biggest fire festival in Europe.

Series 2 (2014)

The second series was produced by Peter Gallagher.

Overall No.	Series No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	UK viewers (million)
3	1	"Raven Black – Part 1"	John McKay	Gaby Chiappe	11 March 2014 (2014-03-11)	6.37
DI Jimmy Perez and his team investigate the murder of a teenage girl whose body was found on a secluded beach, and time and again the same name crops up – that of local recluse Magnus Bain, whose home overlooks the crime scene and who had forged an unlikely friendship with the victim. But then the procurator fiscal draws attention to the unsolved disappearance of a girl named Catriona 19 years previously – a case that shares several similarities with this one.
4	2	"Raven Black – Part 2"	John McKay	Gaby Chiappe	18 March 2014 (2014-03-18)	6.16
The discovery of seven-year-old Catriona's body after almost two decades prompts Jimmy Perez to take Magnus in for further questioning. But at the station, the recluse's distress ends in him in attacking the inspector, and he is sent for a psychological evaluation. Ploughing on, Perez re-examines the evidence, but it is only when Catriona's brother reveals she had a secret hiding place at their old home – the same house where Catherine also lived – that he finally sees a glimmer of hope.
5	3	"Dead Water – Part 1"	David Moore	David Kane	25 March 2014 (2014-03-25)	5.56
A journalist dies in a suspicious car accident, and when it turns out he was an old friend of Perez, a forensic scientist is called in to ensure an objective view of the case. As the team awaits her results, they look into the reasons for the victim's return to the island, and find he was chasing a lead about plans for a controversial new gas pipeline.
6	4	"Dead Water – Part 2"	David Moore	David Kane	1 April 2014 (2014-04-01)	5.53
The discovery of John Henderson's body leads DI Perez to wonder if this second killing is linked to the death of his journalist friend Jerry, a theory given greater weight by forensic investigator Willow Reeves' finds. But then the case takes another surprising turn with the arrival of Jerry's fiancee, carrying a memory stick he gave to her for safekeeping several weeks earlier.
7	5	"Blue Lightning – Part 1"	Stewart Svaasand	Richard Davidson	8 April 2014 (2014-04-08)	5.29
A scientist is found dead in the bird observatory on Fair Isle, Perez's childhood home, so he takes Tosh and makes his way across to the island, where he is greeted by his father – just before flights are grounded by incoming storms. Working alone and without a forensic team, the detectives talk to the victim's friends, family and colleagues – and as tensions run high, the storm forces Perez and the suspects to remain together under a single roof.
8	6	"Blue Lightning – Part 2"	Stewart Svaasand	Richard Davidson	15 April 2014 (2014-04-15)	5.33
Time is running out for Perez and Tosh as their prime suspect lies critically ill in hospital, but it's unclear whether the fire that put him there was a drunken accident or if he was the second victim of Anna's real killer. The DI turns his attention to Finlay Caulfield regarding the photos of Anna on his camera, and while it becomes clear he was obsessed with her, it may not be enough to charge the stalker with her murder. There are still so many unanswered questions – until Sandy spots something on the CCTV footage that takes the investigation in a new direction.

Series 3 (2016)

A third series began filming in 2015, with Douglas Henshall returning as Jimmy Perez, joined by Game of Thrones star Ciaran Hinds, Anna Chancellor and Julie Graham. The series consists of six episodes, telling a single full-length story. The third series does not adapt any of Cleeves' existing books.

Overall No.	Series No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	UK air date	UK viewers (million)
9	1	"Episode 1"	Thaddeus O'Sullivan	Gaby Chiappe	15 January 2016	6.82
When a young man disappears on a ferry crossing and a small boy ends up in intensive care, DI Jimmy Perez and his team become convinced the two events are connected.
10	2	"Episode 2"	Thaddeus O'Sullivan	Robert Murphy	22 January 2016	6.02
DI Perez grows convinced that Michael Maguire is implicated in the grisly death of a young man, discovered in a shipping container.
11	3	"Episode 3"	Thaddeus O'Sullivan	Robert Murphy	5 February 2016	6.21
Perez and Tosh’s investigation leads them to Glasgow, where they hope to uncover the truth behind Maguire’s brutal death and his connection to Robbie Morton. But old ghosts return to haunt Perez, and with his enemies trying to prevent him from getting to the truth, the murder mystery continues.
12	4	"Episode 4"	Jan Matthys	Gaby Chiappe and Alexander Perrin	12 February 2016	6.26
Perez and his team are determined to track down the person who aided Michael Thompson’s killer. But as the case gathers pace, the officers involved find they are all under threat. Sandy comes across the killer by chance in a ruined building, and is knocked out. Tosh, returning from Glasgow, is abducted at the airport.
13	5	"Episode 5"	Jan Matthys	Gaby Chiappe	19 February 2016	6.55
Tosh returns apparently unharmed, but the truth later comes out. Perez continues to investigate the double murder case, but finds bureaucracy getting in the way, until he tracks down a rape victim and discovers that her attacker was the son of Phyllis Brennan.
14	6	"Episode 6"	Jan Matthys	David Kane	4 March 2016	6.14
DI Perez and his team discover that the person responsible for the deaths of Robbie Morton and Michael Thompson is closer to home than they had thought.

International broadcasts

• Australia: The programme airs on BBC First in Australia.[1]
• Belgium: The programme began airing on Flemish public broadcaster VRT's main channel, één, in October 2015.[2]
• Sweden: Swedish public broadcaster SVT started airing the 3rd series in January 2016 on their primary network SVT1.[3]
• Denmark: Danish network Danmarks Radio began showing Shetland in October 2015.[4]
• Germany: The series will begin airing on Das Erste at the end of March 2016.[5]
• Finland: Viewers in Finland were able to start watching the show from August 2015 on public broadcaster YLE's main TV1 channel, where the show was titled "Shetlandsaarten murhat".[6]
• Netherlands: Shetland is aired as part of the "Detectives" series from KRO on the Dutch public broadcasting service NPO.[7]
• Norway: Shetland is aired on public broadcaster NRK.[8]
• Slovenia: The programme began airing in Slovenia on public broadcaster RTVSLO in July 2015.[9]
• New Zealand: The programme began airing in New Zealand on Vibe in January 2016.[10]
• United States: The series is broadcast on many stations of the Public Broadcasting System.

External links

• Shetland at BBC Programmes
• Shetland at IMDb
• Shetland at Drama

• "There's been a murrrder: Shetland returns to BBC One", Sarah Clark, Visit Scotland, 6 March 2014.
• http://www.barb.co.uk/