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.

Ridley Season 1 was initially four feature-length episodes, but PBS ran it as eight two-part episodes. The premiere introduces all the series' hallmarks. Alex Ridley (Dunbar) is a widower; his wife and daughter died in a fire set by the now-incarcerated Michael Flannery (Aidan McArdle). Flannery claims he was trying to kill Ridley, but the detective knows there's something that's not sitting right about the case. However, his superiors believe that's the grief talking and tell him to retire. He invests in a local jazz watering hole run by his wife's BFF, Annie Marling (Julie Graham), and sings there, but it's not enough to distract him. 

So when his former student, DI Carol Farman (Bronagh Waugh), who now holds his old job, calls him up to consult in the murder of local farmer Jesse Halpin (Rob Mitchell-James), he's all in. Halpin was a suspect in a case Ridley worked on nearly 20 years ago of a little girl, Zoe, whose body was never found. The farmer was cleared when the cops discovered that Zoe's babysitter was dating a sex offender, who they instantly assumed was guilty. This case never sat right with Ridley either, and he treats Halpin's death as an excuse to find out who really killed Zoe, much to the annoyance of Farman's boss (and Ridley's former colleague) DCI Paul Goodwin (Terence Maynard). 

Ridley's sixth sense is correct: Halpin's daughter, Catherine, was the one who died, falling off a tractor in a horrible accident. The "Catherine Halpin," who is now nearly 20, is Zoe, kidnapped by Jesse in a misguided attempt to help his wife's overwhelming grief. Ridley is successful in his destruction of a family and inflicting massive trauma scarring on a girl who just learned she's not who she thought she was her whole life.

Goodwin doesn't want to ask Ridley back after that, but Farman is all too happy to have him assist her again rather than her actual bagman DC Darren Lakhan (George Bukhari); pathologist Dr. Wendy Newstone (Georgie Glen) also approves of his return. However, the second case is not his forte. A young immigrant hotel maid was having an affair with a wealthy patron and is now dead. Ridley is all in on taking down the wealthy patron screwing around on his wife, but it's all a red herring. The guy who made her forged papers was stalking her and murdered her out of jealousy.

The series' third episode leaned into the jazz club by casting two-time Olivier Award winner Joanna Riding as a visiting singer, Eve Marbury, with whom Ridley falls into bed. Since it's obvious his intended love interest is Annie, no one is surprised when the murder of the week turns out to have been committed by our golden-piped guest star. Honestly, what's more important in this episode is that we learn Carol is a workaholic whose marriage is in trouble over her commitment to her job. 

Her teen son, Jack (Tareq Al-Jeddal), needs two parents, and her wife, Geri (Bhavna Limbachia), is worried if they wait too long to have another child, they'll miss their opportunity. Ridley solves these issues by taking some of Carol's workload (and giving her advice to choose daily over profession) and hiring Jack to help him work on his other retirement project, his boat, while Carol and Geri work out their problems and get serious about having a second child.

This matters because it means Jack hangs out at Ridley's house. When the final case circles back to Flannery and the person who really killed Ridley's family comes to call, Carol's kid winds up in danger. Of course, Flannery is innocent. He's been Ridley's man on the inside all season, helping on every case; he's obviously not a murderer. The person who set the fire is his brother, Cal Flannery, who gets mixed up in the case of an LGTTQ+ therapist thrown off his balcony. This time, Carol's telling Ridley to step off; he's too emotional to investigate appropriately. 

Even Ridley realizes he's gone too far and agrees he should have stayed retired and gone home to do everything he's been doing instead of going to therapy. However, Cal is already rampaging, destroying the jazz club, and then going to Ridley's house, where Jack and Ridley find themselves trapped.

In the process of trying to escape, Ridley eventually talks Cal down and realizes they both need therapy. But then Cal tries to go for the gun, and in the scuffle, Ridley is shot. Not fatally, of course, but it's enough that the show can have Cal taken out by a sniper in good faith. Ridley goes on a date with Annie; Carol and Geri have their baby, and the team accepts Ridley is probably there to stay, at least once he finishes seeing a therapist and is cleared to work for real.

Ridley Season 2 will debut on Sunday, September 15, at 8 p.m. ET (followed by Moonflower Murders at 9 p.m. ET and Van der Valk Season 4 at 10 p.m. ET). As always, these times and release dates are for most local PBS stations, the PBS app, and the PBS Masterpiece Prime Video Channel. PBS Passport members will have access to all episodes of Ridley Season 2 on premiere day to watch as a binge (or as initially intended). As always, check your local listings and streamers.