D.I._Ray
DI Ray
British police drama TV series
DI Ray is a British police procedural television series created and written by Maya Sondhi and produced by Jed Mercurio. DI Ray stars Parminder Nagra in the title role as a Detective Inspector in a fictitious Birmingham-based police force. The cast also includes Gemma Whelan and Jamie Bamber.[1] The first series of four episodes aired on ITV beginning 2 May 2022. The Canadian CBC title is D. I. Ray.
| DI Ray | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Police procedural |
| Created by | Maya Sondhi |
| Written by | Maya Sondhi |
| Directed by |
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| Starring | |
| Theme music composer | Edmund Butt |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| No. of series | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 4 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
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| Producer | Charlotte Surtees
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| Production location |
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| Cinematography |
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| Production companies |
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| Original release | |
| Network | ITV |
| Release | 2 May 2022 (2022-05-02) – present |
In November 2022, it was announced that the series was renewed for a six-episode second series, which will begin filming in 2023.[2][3]
- Parminder Nagra as DI Rachita Ray
- Gemma Whelan as DCI Kerry Henderson
- Jamie Bamber as DCI Martyn Hunter
- Sam Baker-Jones as DC Liam Payne
- Maanuv Thiara as PS Tony Khatri
- Jessica Temple as DC Carly Lake
The series was filmed during October and November 2021 in locations including Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter and outside Lloyd House police station.[4]
Series 1 (2022)
| No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | UK viewers (millions) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Episode 1 | Audrey Cooke | Maya Sondhi | 2 May 2022 (2022-05-02) | 5.83 | |
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DI Rachita Ray is promoted to homicide but realises that the so called 'culturally specific homicide' of Imran Aziz (an honour killing, according to her DCI) she is assigned to, is anything but. She ignores the order of her DCI to simply charge the initial suspects, and quickly finds a number of police missteps in the investigation-to-date. | ||||||
| 2 | Episode 2 | Audrey Cooke | Maya Sondhi | 3 May 2022 (2022-05-03) | 5.06 | |
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Rachita and the team race to track down Anjuli Kapoor, girlfriend of Aziz and sister of the DCI's original suspects. When Anjali is found drowned, the DCI assumes suicide, which the coroner disproves. The DCI continues to bully Rachita, dismissing her investigative leads pointing at Aziz' hostile (and unknown) business partners. Rachita continues her investigation, finding a shipping container filled with dead smuggled illegals – pointedly telling her DCI, "Honour crime, my arse." | ||||||
| 3 | Episode 3 | Alex Pillai | Maya Sondhi | 4 May 2022 (2022-05-04) | 4.86 | |
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The body count continues to rise as Rachita and the team uncover more evidence. | ||||||
| 4 | Episode 4 | Alex Pillai | Maya Sondhi | 5 May 2022 (2022-05-05) | 4.86 | |
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Rachita makes a shocking discovery which has a huge impact on both her investigation and her personal life. | ||||||
Lucy Mangan, writing for The Guardian, gave the series three out of a possible five stars. She praised Sondhi's use of "tangled motivations that hold the viewers' interest" to create a "police procedural with a fresh perspective" but felt that the story "at times moves a bit too slowly" and "feels a bit too by-numbers".[5] Sean O'Grady for The Independent gave the series four stars out of five, describing the lead character as "a smart, sassy, tough telly detective" and summarising "low key in tone and atmosphere, DI Ray, cop and show, that is, deserves to be a success. Mercurio ticks another box."[6]
- Carr, Flora (27 April 2022). "Meet the cast of ITV thriller DI Ray". Radio Times. Retrieved 4 May 2022.
- Fear, Helen (5 May 2022). "DI Ray on ITV1: Will there be a season 2 of the Parminder Nagra police drama?". ED! Entertainment Daily. Digitalbox Publishing Ltd. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
- Cooper, Brenna (25 November 2022). "ITV confirms future of DI Ray with Parminder Nagra". Digital Spy. Retrieved 27 November 2022.
- Honebeek, Talya (2 May 2022). "Where was DI Ray filmed? Birmingham filming locations for Line of Duty creator's new ITV drama". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 4 May 2022.
- Mangan, Lucy (2 May 2022). "DI Ray review – like Line of Duty, but with racism at every turn". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 May 2022.
- O'Grady, Sean (3 May 2022). "DI Ray, review: Low key in tone and atmosphere, Jed Mercurio's latest cop drama deserves to be a success". The Independent. Retrieved 4 May 2022.
