The BritBox 'Lynley' Trailer Introduces a New Detective

There's a saying in the U.K. about the weather: "If you don't like it, wait a minute." This phrasing could also be used to refer to British television: "If you miss it, wait a minute." Not that the era of reboots, reimaginings, and remakes has not also affected American TV. There are plenty of U.S. shows that can attest to being forcefully dragged into the 21st century, whether audiences wanted it or not. However, the recent spate of new adaptations of fan-favorite BBC and ITV detective series from the 20th century has been in rare form, with the returns of Bergerac, Maigret, Rebus, Tommy & Tuppence, and Lynley all debuting in the mid-2020s.

Lynley is one of the next remakes heading to the small screen, debuting in the U.S. on BritBox and the BBC in the U.K. before the end of 2025. Based on the best-selling Lynley Mysteries by writer Elizabeth George, the new series focuses on the upper-class, Oxford-educated titular detective, DI Tommy Lynley, Earl of Asherton, and his working-class partner in crime-solving, DS Barbara Havers. The original adaptation, The Inspector Lynley Mysteries, debuted in 2001 and ran for six seasons on the BBC, airing in the U.S. on PBS's Mystery! (and later on Masterpiece Mystery, as the final season aired in the U.S. after the Great Masterpiece Rebranding.)

With built-in fandoms already on both sides of the pond, it's not a surprise that BritBox jumped into this remake from the get-go. (That it did is almost certainly why PBS Masterpiece didn't wind up with it.) Moreover, with a trio of stars well-known to PBS audiences and Anglophiles, it's a pretty good bet the series will inspire many viewers to tune in.