Sacha Dhawan Lands Lead Role in Crime Drama 'Virdee'

Sacha Dhawan recently hinted that The Master isn’t done with The Doctor in Doctor Who, and though he’s not going to be around for the 60th anniversary, fans shouldn’t count the character out. However, the chances of Dhawan returning to the series have become rather slim as the actor has picked up a new lead role in the past few weeks. At the end of August 2023, at the Edinburgh TV Festival, Lindsay Salt, Director of BBC Drama, announced the network was commissioning a brand new detective series, Virdee, based on the best-selling series of crime novels by A.A. Dhand, with Dhawan as the titular detective.

With four published novels in the gritty, urban, contemporary vein, the series is set in Bradford, following the adventures of Detective Inspector Harry Virdee, a British English Sikh investigator, who is faced with cases steeped in race, violence, and exploitation. Starting with Streets of Darkness (2016), these books have been called written versions of Luther and The Wire, so it was only a matter of time before the small screen came calling. The other books in the series so far include Girl Zero (2017), City of Sinners (2018), and One Way Out (2020).

“Virdee is a powerful and gripping detective story, but at its heart are two people in love and their struggle to be accepted as a couple,” said Salt in the announcement. “With Sacha in the lead role of Harry and Bradford providing the perfect backdrop, I can’t wait for viewers to be captivated by this series." Dhand added, “Like me, DCI Harry Virdee is a proud Brit who dreams big, and whilst he is passionate about his heritage, it is not something which solely defines him. He refuses to be shackled by the past and believes in merging worlds, cultures, and identities, no matter the cost. Hey, aim big or go home – this is Yorkshire.”