By Lacy Baugher for Drama on August 28th, 2013

'Scott and Bailey' Renewed for Series 4!

The ladies of "Scott and Bailey". (Photo: ITV)
The ladies of "Scott and Bailey". (Photo: ITV)
Good news for fans of female-led mystery series Scott & Bailey – the popular ITV drama has been renewed for a fourth series!

Lesley Sharp and Suranne Jones will return as Rachel Bailey and Janet Scott, two detective constables with very different personalities who are part of the fictional Murder Investigation Team in Manchester. Amelia Bullmore will also return as DCI Gill Murray and, additionally, will write four episodes of the new season.

Executive producer Nichola Shindler is “thrilled” by the drama’s impending return. “"It's rewarding to think the public have become so familiar with the characters and taken them to heart,” she said. “With this new series, we have the chance to explore great story ideas and continue developing those characters."

Scott & Bailey has consistently been a strong ratings performer for ITV and has been one of the network’s most successful new dramas in recent years (barring a certain worldwide smash hit named Downton Abbey).  The most recent season finale pulled in a 27% audience share for them, averaging about 7.1 million viewers.

"ITV Drama without Scott and Bailey would be unthinkable,” said ITV Director of Drama Scott November. “Its reputation for quality storytelling and great characterization precedes it and it's become a firm favorite with ITV viewers."

Production is slated to begin on Series 4 in Spring 2014, with an eye toward a transmission date later that year. In an extra tidbit of good news for local fans – DC area Scott and Bailey lovers can expect to see the third series of the drama pop on our WETA UK this Fall. Keep an eye out – and take a look at a trailer for the third season while you wait.

 

By Lacy Baugher for Drama on August 28th, 2013
Lacy Baugher

Lacy's love of British TV is embarrassingly extensive, but primarily centers around evangelizing all things Doctor Who, and watching as many period dramas as possible.

Digital media type by day, she also has a fairly useless degree in British medieval literature, and dearly loves to talk about dream poetry, liminality, and the medieval religious vision. (Sadly, that opportunity presents itself very infrequently.) York apologist, Ninth Doctor enthusiast, and unabashed Ravenclaw. Say hi on Threads or Blue Sky at @LacyMB. 

Explore More

More to Love from Telly Visions

  • ITV Commissions New Episodes of 'Scott and Bailey'

    ITV has ordered a new three-part special series of popular detective drama Scott & Bailey.

    Stars Suranne Jones and Lesley Sharp are back as Rachel Scott and Janet Bailey, the odd couple-ish crimefighting partnership forged over four previous series. This new season will feature a single crime story told over the course of all three installments, and will be “one of the biggest and darkest cases” that the detective duo has ever had to face.

    The new three episode order marks a fairly significant format switch for the show, whose previous seasons clocked in at between six (Season 1) and eight episodes (Seasons 2-4) each. Of course, those episodes were all standalone installments in the sense that they lacked an overarching case between them – though I’d argue that many thematic and character beats carried over each week – instead of a serialized narrative.

    By Lacy Baugher for Drama on 8/17/2015

  • The Trailer for 'Scott & Bailey' Series 4 Indicates Changes Are in Store

    Female-led detective drama Scott & Bailey is set to return for its fourth season shortly on ITV in the UK. The show follows the personal and professional lives of two detective constables who are close friends with very different personalities, as they solve crimes and navigate the pressures of modern-day policing as women.

    The fabulous Suranne Jones and Lesley Sharp are back as the titular crimefighting duo, alongside Amelia Bullmore as DCI Gill Murray. (Fun fact: Bullmore is also pulling double duty as a scriptwriter again, penning four of the scripts.) They’ll be joined by newcomer Danny Webb, who takes on the role of family man DC Chris Crowle, and Emmerdale’s Danny Miller returns as DS Robb Waddington.

    Series 4 will be comprised of eight episodes, and change certainly seems afoot for the Manchester Police’s Major Incident Team, as both DC Rachel Bailey and DC Janet Scott compete for a promotion to Detective Sargeant. Dun dun dunnnnn.

    By Lacy Baugher for Drama on 9/3/2014

  • British Actors You Should Know: Rupert Graves

    Our British Actors You Should Know series rolls on this week by profiling an actor that a lot of you will be at least passingly familiar with – because he’s in Sherlock, and we know how much everyone loves Sherlock. (With good reason!) But, how much do you know about the cast that’s bringing Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories into the modern age?

    Since we’ve already covered leads Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman in this series, it seems only fair to make our way through the rest of the 221b Baker Street gang as we can. Up this week: Rupert Graves, an exceptionally talented actor who’s been working steadily in British film and television for over 25 years, so you’ve probably seen him in a lot of things already. You may just not have known you have.

    Read on for some Graves-themed viewing suggestions and let us know what we’ve left off the list in the comments!

    By Lacy Baugher for Actors and Actresses on 1/23/2014