Say hello to the West Yorkshire Luther.
When he first appeared on the pages of AA Dhand’s crime novels, DCI Harry Virdee was described by critics as ‘a character destined for television’.
Well, guess what? The no-nonsense Bradford detective has made that journey. Played by Game of Thrones’ Staz Nair, he’s now TV copper ready to draw comparisons with John Luther and Line of Duty’s roster of tough-as-old-boots crime fighters.
The new six-part BBC series, written by Dhand, sees Virdee leading the hunt for a Silence of the Lambs-like serial killer and getting caught between two rival drugs gangs.
Bradford has plenty of screen history – it’s the home of Europe’s first IMAX cinema and the National Science and Media Museum – but Virdee is the city’s most impressive on-screen appearance to date. And what better way to mark its new status as UK City of Culture than by turning it into West Yorkshire’s answer to Gotham City?
Here’s how it became the heart of this gripping new BBC cop thriller.
What is Virdee about?
Virdee is based loosely on Bradford writer Dhand’s 2018 novel ‘City of Sinners’, the third in the four-book Virdee series. We meet the dedicated crime fighter (Nair) as he gets on the case of a kidnapped boy and crosses paths with some of the city’s less savoury characters. One of them, murkily, is Virdee’s own brother-in-law Riaz (Vikash Bhai). A deal with the devil is on the cards.
And to complicate things even further for the stressed-out, fired-up detective, his Sikh father has disowned him for marrying a Muslim woman named Saima (Aysha Kala).
‘It’s an inter-faith marriage,’ says author-screenwriter AA Dhand. ‘We’ve seen a lot of Catholic-Protestant, Catholic-Jewish couples on screen. The fact that it’s two brown people might be unique, but the concept is not.’
The BBC series is a major showcase for the charismatic Nair, who played Dothraki warrior Qhono in Game of Thrones and took the role of Virdee when Doctor Who’s Sacha Dhawan dropped out.
It also fills a big gap in cultural representation on page and screen. ‘I felt there wasn’t a South Asian character in an on-screen drama in the western world,’ Dhands tells the BBC. ‘I grew up at a time when Goodness Gracious Me was viral. There were some really amazing global comics who were killing it. But no one had really done drama. I started writing Harry Virdee because I wanted to see him represented in the way I see myself.’
Where was Virdee filmed?
As the old cliché goes, the West Yorkshire of Bradford is a key character in Virdee. Its fellow BBC crime series Happy Valley has used locations in the city, but Virdee is making the place its own.
With the input of Screen Yorkshire and UK film industry veteran Paul Trijbits – a long-time exec-producer of films and TV shows with distinctive UK locations (Fish Tank, Red Road, Small Island) – the series digs right into the heart of the city’s religious and cultural divides, backdropped by cleverly-lit nightscapes that give it the feeling of a West Yorks Gotham City. ‘I wanted his character to mirror the city of Bradford,’ says Dhands, ‘light, dark, complicated’.
‘It’s one of the most cinematic cities I’ve ever seen,’ adds Dhands, ‘and I think we really reflect that on screen. The gothic and bohemian architecture… I’m trying to show off my city. It’s almost like a child in a toy shop – which location am I going to show today?’
Bradford’s historic City Hall cameos regularly, its distinctive Venetian-style tower a colourfully-lit beacon around which Virdee’s dark storylines plays out.
Many of the crime show’s paths run through City Park, a large urban space famous for its mirror pool, the largest urban water feature in the UK. ‘This is juxtaposed in the series with the nightmarish ruins and mills that haven't been used for decades,’ notes Dhand.
When can I watch Virdee?
The series begins at 9pm, Monday February 10 on BBC One and BBC iPlayer, with the following five episodes airing on consecutive Mondays.
If you can’t wait, all six episodes will be on BBC iPlayer at 6am, Monday February 10.
What are the critics saying about it?
‘Virdee is not exactly subtle in leaning into its genre, but there’s fun to be had with it, and deeper issues are explored,’ says The Guardian.
Digital Spy is full of praise for the show’s representation of Asian communities. ‘Virdee reminds us why we enjoy detective shows in the first place while proving that cultural specificity doesn't come at the expense of universal appeal.’
The Times’s critic was more mixed, praising the depiction of the show’s depiction of its Sikh/Muslim relationship but calling out the violent murders. ‘The family stuff is strong but this kind of barbarity isn’t my bag.’
The iPaper, meanwhile, wasn’t as complimentary. ‘For all its admirable qualities… it forgets the most important lesson of all: that a thriller, no matter how grisly, should be fun, not glum.’
The biggest TV and streaming shows to watch in 2025.
The best thriller movies of all time for a suspense-packed film night.