Sacha Dhawan is to lead the cast of new drama Virdee on BBC One and iPlayer.
The brand new six-part series is based on the bestselling novels by AA Dhand.
The series introduces Detective Harry Virdee – played by Sacha Dhawan (Doctor Who, The Great, Wolf) – a Bradford cop disowned by his Sikh family for marrying Saima, who is Muslim.
A teaser shares: “Harry struggles with the abandonment, constantly attempting to reunite with his family. With his personal life in chaos, he must hunt down a killer targeting the Asian community.
“When the murderer kidnaps a local MP’s daughter in Bradford and holds the entire city to ransom, Harry realises that he is going to need the help of his brother-in-law Riaz, a drugs kingpin who runs the largest cartel in the county.
“Pulled together in an alliance that could ruin them both, Harry must make a choice: save himself and his family or save his city. He will not be able to do both.”
AA Dhand said: “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.”
Paul Trijbits, executive producer, added: “Working with Amit to get the Harry Virdee books to the screen has been a long but utterly satisfying journey. It’s no mean feat for Amit to have succeeded in adapting this love story set in such a rich and complex world and wrapping it all up in a crime series.”
Further casting and a release date are to be announced.