Everything to Remember from 'Ridley' Season 1

On paper, Ridley looks like a winning formula: take actor Adrian Dunbar, already a beloved household name in the U.K. for playing the self-righteous Irish-Catholic head of the internal corruption unit in Line of Duty, and give him his own detective show to anchor. Dunbar comes ready-made with a hook: he's a trained singer and has released albums of jazz standards, so make him the "singing detective" who hangs out in a jazz club run by an attractive older woman and lets them flirt before he goes and sings a tune at least once per episode. Hire the same writer who helped Vera and Father Brown hit double-digit seasons, and have him write adventures for an older detective. Heck, make it topical how pensioners wind up working through their golden years because a decade of Tory budget cuts has crippled social services.

Unfortunately, though all the ingredients were there, Ridley didn't quite measure up to either of Paul Matthew Thompson's previous ventures. Killing off his family to keep him from having ties outside the office felt over the top, and the self-righteous drive that worked so well in LoD felt condescending and overbearing in this situation. The songs were gimmicky, and the mysteries were too easy to solve from the jump. The only thing that worked was the rest of the ensemble (Bronagh Waugh, Terence Maynard, Georgie Glen, George Bukhari), all of whom made the show feel like it should be about them, not this annoying interloper who couldn't stay retired.

However, this is not the first time PBS has picked up a show that needs a few seasons to develop. (Never forget how bad Unforgotten Season 1's ending was or that ITV nearly didn't renew it for Season 2 due to viewer response.) ITV renewed Ridley before it aired in the States, giving the production a second chance to correct Season 1's issues. With that second season on the way, let's review the main points from Season 1 that you may have forgotten.