Shetland (TV series)


Shetland is a Scottish television crime drama television series, made by ITV Studios for the BBC and broadcast on BBC One, that first broadcast on 10 March 2013. Initially based upon the novels of Ann Cleeves, the series was brought to screen by David Kane, who has remained a principal writer throughout the series.
The series stars Douglas Henshall as Jimmy Pérez, a detective inspector working for the Shetland police, Alison O'Donnell as Detective Sergeant Alison "Tosh" Macintosh, and Steven Robertson as Detective Constable Sandy Wilson. Mark Bonnar, Lewis Howden, Erin Armstrong, Julie Graham, and Anne Kidd are also credited as principal members of the cast.
The story takes place largely on the eponymous Scottish archipelago, although much of the series' filming takes place on the Scottish mainland, with only some location filming actually taking place in Shetland. Five series have been broadcast. Douglas Henshall won the 2016 BAFTA Scotland award for best actor for his role as Jimmy Pérez, and the series received the award for Best TV Drama.
On December 2, 2019, BBC One announced that Shetland would return for two further series airing respectively in 2020 and 2021. Henshall is confirmed to return to his role, along with O’Donnell.

Production

The first series consists of two episodes; a single two-part story based on the novel Red Bones by Ann Cleeves. This series was broadcast across two nights on 10 and 11 March 2013 and was produced by Sue de Beauvoir. Subsequently, a second series was commissioned by the BBC. Series two was extended to contain six episodes. These were filmed in 2013 and screened in 2014. This series features three two-part stories based on Cleeves' novels Raven Black, Dead Water, and Blue Lightning. This series was produced by Peter Gallagher.
Filming began in April 2015 for a third series, which began screening in January 2016. This series saw a change in format; with all six episodes covering a single story, written exclusively for television. This was the first series not to adapt any of Cleeves' novels. Ciarán Hinds and Anna Chancellor were among the new cast members for this series. A fourth series was announced by the BBC in July 2016. Again, this series is a single story played out across six episodes and written exclusively for television. Stephen Walters and Neve McIntosh were among the new cast members announced for the series. It was broadcast on BBC One beginning on 13 February 2018.
In July 2018, Henshall confirmed that filming for series five would take place over the following four months. Series five was broadcast on BBC1, starting on 12 February 2019.
During the filming of the programme, the cast and crew are usually based in Glasgow and other areas of mainland Scotland. Filming often takes place in areas with landscape or buildings reminiscent of those in the Shetland Islands, such as Kilbarchan in Renfrewshire, Barrhead, where Henshall was born and grew up, Ayr and Irvine, North Ayrshire. "My character’s house is actually in Kilbarchan, the interior of a couple of crofts are here and the police station is in Barrhead", Henshall said in a 2019 interview.
Filming locations on or near Shetland have included Lerwick, the main port of the Shetland Islands and on the NorthLink ferry approaching Lerwick as well as the village of Wester Quarff south of Lerwick. Some filming was done on Fair Isle for series 2 while the Hillswick wildlife sanctuary was featured in series 4.

Cast

Main cast

Raven Black
Dead Water
Blue Lightning

Overview

Series 1 (2013)

Series 2 (2014)

Series 3 (2016)

The broadcast of Episode 6 was delayed due to coverage of an FA Cup replay being broadcast. In contrast to Season 2, Season 3 is one 6-part story.
Overall
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No.		TitleDirected byWritten byUK air dateUK viewers

Series 4 (2018)

The broadcast of Episode 3 was delayed by 24 hours due to the broadcast of an FA Cup replay.
Overall
No.		Episode
No.		TitleDirected byWritten byUK air dateUK viewers

Series 5 (2019)

Overall
No.		Episode
No.		TitleDirected byWritten byUK air dateUK viewers

Home Media

In Australia, Shetland has been released on DVD. Series 1 contains the Pilot "Red Bones" and the Season 2 episodes "Raven Black", "Dead Water" and "Blue Lightning". Series 2 contains the Series 3 episodes, Series 3 contains the Series 4 episodes, and Series 4 contains the Season 5 episodes.
DVD NameRelease Date
ShetlandSeptember 17, 2014
Shetland: Series 2May 11, 2016
Shetland: Series 3May 9, 2018
Shetland: Series 4August 7, 2019

International broadcasts