DCI Banks: Difference between revisions

DCI Banks
Intertitle (2011–)
Genre	Crime drama
Starring	Stephen Tompkinson Andrea Lowe Caroline Catz Lorraine Burroughs Jack Deam Tom Shaw (2011) Colin Tierney (2010-2011)
Composer	Sheridan Tongue[1]
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	2
No. of episodes	14 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Andy Harries Francis Hopkinson
Producer	Stephen Smallwoad
Running time	45 minutes (x2)
Production company	Left Bank Pictures
Original release
Network	ITV, STV, UTV
Release	27 September 2010 (2010-09-27) – present

DCI Banks is a British crime drama series produced by Left Bank Pictures for the ITV network. The series is based on Peter Robinson's Inspector Alan Banks novels and stars Stephen Tompkinson as Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks.^[2]

In January 2010, author Peter Robinson announced that he had signed a joint deal with Left Bank Pictures and ITV to adapt novels from the Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks series for television.^[3]

Filming on a two-part pilot based on the novel Aftermath was completed in July 2010, with scenes filmed on location in Leeds. DCI Banks: Aftermath aired on ITV, STV & UTV September 27 and October 4, 2010.^[3] The two episodes drew a strong average of 6.55 million viewers, twice becoming the fifth most-watched programme on the ITV network that week.^[4] Viewer ratings for the pilot were strong enough to persuade ITV to commission a series of six episodes — three two-part dramas adapted from three Robinson novels.

The first full series consisted of three two-part dramas based on three Peter Robinson novels. Filming began in February 2011, and included locations in Otley for Friend Of The Devil. This was identifiable by the fact that some shop names in the town were left unchanged during filming.^{[5] [6]} The first episode, Playing With Fire, aired September 16, 2011, and drew an average of 4.5 million viewers.^[7] The subsequent two 2-part dramas, Friend of The Devil and Cold is The Grave, achieved similar ratings.

The viewing figures for the first series were again successful enough for ITV to commission a second series. Filming began in March 2012, and episodes began broadcasting from October 10.^[8] For this series, the novels Dry Bones That Dream,^[9] Innocent Graves^[10] and Strange Affair were adapted.^[11] With actress Andrea Lowe taking maternity leave, Stephen Tompkinson was joined by Doc Martin actress Caroline Catz in the role of DI Helen Morton, a character who does not appear in the novels.^[12]

Sally Haynes, head of the ITV Drama commissioning team, said of the second series: "DCI Banks is now established as a firm favourite within ITV's crime drama slate. We're delighted so many viewers are appreciating Robert Murphy’s adaptations and how the team at Left Bank Pictures are producing DCI Banks."^[12]

On 1 December 2012, Peter Robinson announced on his website that DCI Banks has been recommissioned for a third series of six one-hour episodes (again, three two-parters), based on three books still to be determined. The announcement stated that filming would take place between August and November 2013, for broadcast early in 2014. That announcement has since been removed from the author's site, but in January 2013 Stephen Tompkinson mentioned in an interview "I’m pleased to say [DCI Banks has] recently been commissioned for a third series, which should start filming later in the year."^[13]. Also, a significant syndication announcement by BBC Worldwide America (see below) in January 2013 will bring DCI Banks to 166 American PBS stations, reaching an estimated 77% of U.S. TV households. DCI Banks began airing on PBS affiliates across the U.S. in mid-January 2013, including the pilot and Series 1 and 2.

On January 9, 2013, BBC Worldwide America announced a syndication deal with public television stations in the U.S. for DCI Banks to be available on 166 PBS affiliate stations across the USA, "reaching an estimated 77% of U.S. TV households." The syndication deal includes the pilot and Series 1 and 2. The announcement stated that DCI Banks would premiere on public television stations across the country, including WUSF (Tampa, Florida), KERA (Dallas, Texas) and KCET (Los Angeles, California), starting in January 2013.^[14]

"DCI Banks" has also been broadcast in Norway on NRK1. In Sweden, national public service broadcaster SVT aired the pilot and three Series 1 episodes (each about 90 minutes in length). Similar airings occurred in Denmark.

The Series 1 DVD was released for Region 2 (UK) on October 31, 2011.^[5] The two disc-set features the pilot Aftermath and the three two-part dramas of Series 1. Extra features include some deleted scenes and short interviews with Stephen Tompkinson and Andrea Lowe, who plays DS Annie Cabbott.

The Region 2 DVD of Series 2 was released in the UK November 19, 2012 and contains three two-part dramas.^[15]

Filming on the second series began in March, and episodes began broadcasting from October 10. Accompanying novels, with cover photos of Stephen Tompkinson, were issued on October 25.^[16] For the second series, a number of new characters were introduced to the show. These include Banks' parents, Arthur (Keith Barron) and Ida Banks (Polly Hemmingway); DI Helen Morton (Caroline Catz), who takes over from DS Annie Cabbot, who is absent from the series while she is on maternity leave, due to actress Andrea Lowe also taking maternity leave; and Ch. Supt. Ron McLaughlin (Nick Sidi), who takes over from Ch. Supt. Gerry Rydell, who resigned under somewhat of a cloud at the end of series one. It is reported that Lowe will later return for the third series.^[8]

• DCI Banks at itv.com
• DCI Banks at Left Bank Pictures
• DCI Banks at IMDb