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.

Here's the series' official synopsis:

Tommy Lynley is a brilliant police detective but an outsider in the force – simply by virtue of his aristocratic upbringing. He is paired with Barbara Havers, a sergeant with a maverick attitude and a working-class background. With seemingly nothing in common and against all odds, the mismatched duo of Lynley and Havers become a formidable team, bonded by their desire to see justice done. His brain and her spirit – his knowledge and her instincts. It is only through working side by side do they both find where they truly belong.

Leo Suter (Sanditon) stars as DI Tommy Lynley and Sofia Barclay (Ted Lasso) as DS Barbara Havers, leading an all-star cast. The new series features Moonflower Murders' Daniel Mays as Lynley's antagonistic boss at Three Counties Major Incident Team, DCI Brian Nies; Niamh Walsh (The English Game) plays Helen Clyde, an estate agent/Lynley’s love interest; Michael Workeye (My Lady Jane) is tech specialist Tony Bekele; and Joshua Sher (Vera) is the team forensic scientist Dr. Simon St. James.

All four episodes of Lynley were written by series creator Steve Thompson (Vienna Blood); Ed Bazalgette (Marie Antoinette) serves as lead director with Suzanne McAuley (Magpie Murders) as series producer. Thompson and George are listed as executive producers alongside David Stern & Colin Callender for Playground; Robert Schildhouse, Stephen Nye, Jon Farrar & Jess O’Riordan for BritBox; Kate Woods for BBC Studios; and Sue Deeks for the BBC.

Lynley will debut in the U.S. on Thursday, September 4, 2025, with one episode airing weekly on Thursdays through the end of the month. The series does not yet have an official release date on the BBC, but considering the marketing has started and it's not yet August, we're going to bet the "autumn debut" will be closer to September than November 2025. The original Inspector Lynley Mysteries from the BBC circa 2000 are available to stream on select PBS Passports and local stations. As always, check those listings.