Virdee is a six-part British crime thriller television series. It is adapted by A A Dhand from his own Bradford-set crime novel series. It stars Staz Nair and was produced by Magical Society for BBC One and BBC iPlayer. It was broadcast in the UK on BBC One and BBC iPlayer on 10 February 2025.
Harry Virdee is a detective hunting down a killer targeting the Asian community in Bradford. Meanwhile, his Sikh family are dismayed at his decision to marry Saima, who is Muslim.[1]
Detective Harry Virdee becomes deeply involved in the search for a missing teenager trapped in a county lines drug operation. After an impassioned plea from the boy's mother, Harry faces the temptation of stepping over a dangerous line.
A shocking murder shakes Bradford's criminal underworld, intensifying rival gang conflicts. Harry's investigation into the killer takes him to the victim's ex-boyfriend, where he uncovers the hidden facets of her life. At the same time, Saima takes a daring step to repair strained family relationships.
As the community struggles to recover from the nightclub attack, the killer escalates their actions with a high-profile abduction. The case garners national attention, prompting the UK Crime Agency to intervene, casting doubt on Harry and Conway's positions in the investigation.
The killer raises the stakes, making it personal with a harrowing phone call to police headquarters that compels Harry to confront a painful memory from his past. Meanwhile, an unexpected revelation leads Saima to question everything she thought she knew about Harry and her brother.
After Harry is hospitalised following a near-fatal attack, the killer reaches out to the police with a proposition. Meanwhile, Vasil sets his sights on Riaz, driven by a thirst for revenge. Saima, determined to investigate her brother, stumbles upon revelations far beyond her expectations.
In a tense showdown with the killer, Harry faces an unthinkable dilemma. With time slipping away and options dwindling, Harry takes a bold gamble, paving the way for a devastating climax.
Production
Based on the character from the A A Dhand crime novels, which debuted in 2016 with Streets of Darkness, which in September 2023 was reported to be the novel being adapted into a six-part television series.[3] However, later reports suggested it is actually the third novel, City of Sinners, which Dhand himself adapted for television.[4]
Executive producer is Paul Trijbits for Magical Society, AA Dhand, and Jo McClellan for BBC.[5] The series producer is Stella Nwimo and the series was co-produced by Gareth Coulam Evans, Callum Dodgson and Sylvie Richards. The series was scored by James Everingham, with the main theme composed by Everingham and Hans Zimmer and featuring Indian composer Shashwat Sachdev.[6]
Casting
In August 2023, Sacha Dhawan was cast in the lead role.[7] In February 2024, he was replaced in the role by Staz Nair.[8]
Hans Zimmer and James Everingham composed the Virdee title theme and series score, featuring Shashwat Sachdev. Trainees from Screen Academy Bradford joined the scoring process to get a hands-on experience of composing for screen.[16]
Reception
Lucy Mangan in The Guardian praised the "satisfying plot" and the charisma of Nair as Virdee and "Dhand’s great talent for finding the emotionally universal in the culturally specific."[17] Carol Midgely in The Times enjoyed the "strong" and "powerful” portrayal of the family dynamics in the series but cautioned viewers against the "barbarity" of the violence.[18] Chris Bennison for The Telegraph favoured "the gentler domestic scenes" describing Kulvinder Ghir, as Virdee’s disapproving father, as "quietly impressive", and compared Nair to "Daniel Craig-era Bond" but for all the "vignettes that fascinate – the gangs specifically recruiting young South Asian women to deal drugs because the politically aware Bradford police don’t dare stop and search them" felt that "they get buried" by "crime-thriller tropes".[19]
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