'Hope Street' Season 4 Introduces New Lead Characters
Most of the time, the BBC and ITV make producing a hit police procedural look easy. Cast a few handsome white men as emotionally troubled mid-level cops, and then force them to confront whatever version of the world you subscribe to, whether it's the AC-12 in Line of Duty, the cold case team on Unforgotten, or a laundry list of priests who all turn out to be really into solving crimes with a World War II vet in Grantchester. But sometimes, the series doesn't quite work due to casting chemistry, writers, or focus. In those cases, where American TV would cancel it after two episodes, the BBC just keeps overhauling every season until they find a working formula.
Such is the case with Hope Street, now going into Season 4 with its fourth casting lineup. While there are some returnees, as the local characters in town gelled over the first few seasons and viewers tuned into their soap opera lives, the ostensible lead characters — DC Leila Hussain (Amara Karan), DC Al Quinn (Stephen Hagan), and DI Finn O'Hare (Ciarán McMenamin) — haven't managed to last. Karan left after one season, Hagan was reduced to guest star after his debut in Season 2, and McMenamin, who finally took the show's full focus in Season 3 after playing co-lead in Seasons 1 and 2 to Karan and Hagan, exited in the season finale.
The BBC announced Season 4 would once again bring on a new lead actor to take over the police squad, casting Tara Lynne O'Neill (Derry Girls) as DI Eve Dunlop. However, she turned out to be just one of many new faces arriving in Season 4 as the show does a soft reboot of the series.
