'Shetland' Announces Ashley Jensen as Lead Starting in Season 8

Changing leads midstream is not unusual for long-running police procedures; it’s just a matter of figuring out how to incorporate it. It’s why shows like Grantchester aren’t called “The Sidney Chambers Mysteries” or the Chief Inspector Ganache adaptation will be called the Three Pines series because that way, the show can continue set in the small town rather than depend on an actor to keep re-upping his contract. Such is the case with Shetland, which has cast a new lead detective with Agatha Raisin’s Ashley Jensen as DI Ruth Calder after the exit of Douglas Henshall as DI Jimmy Perez.

Despite these turnovers being the norm, this is a bit of an unusual situation. Most lead changeovers usually occur early in a show’s run because the actor wants to get out before spending the rest of their life typcast. Ben Miller left Death in Paradise after two years, and James Norton retired his Chambers robes after three. Nicola Walker exited Unforgotten after five; however, the decision to bring her to a natural exit was made after the third. Any longer than that and an actor leaving usually means the show ends -- after all, six or seven seasons is more than respectable.

That’s why the decision to keep Shetland going with a new lead after Douglas Henshall’s exit is so surprising. Based on the Shetland Island novels by Ann Cleeves, it is the second of three-hit series based on Cleeves’ best sellers, the other two being the long-running Vera and the recent The Long Call. Henshall seemed a bit miffed that the show wasn’t going to end because he’d decided to pursue other projects, saying in interviews he “hoped the BBC didn’t make a mess” of the series now he’s not in it. But the announcement of Jensen, whose popular Agatha Raisin series was rescued  by Acorn TV, suggests the BBC plans to see if the show can get even bigger under a new star.