No Offence back on the beat for Channel 4

23 June 2015

“It’s fresh, it’s funny, it is clever…it makes you want to fall at the feet of everyone involved in love and gratitude” – The Guardian

“Quite extraordinary….it surpasses the expectations of the police procedural while also delivering drama in Abbott’s signature style” – Evening Standard

“A gleefully outrageous cop show”– The Independent

“Who else but Abbott could be so funny and so irredeemably filthy” – New Statesman

 

Paul Abbott’s critically-lauded police procedural drama No Offence has been recommissioned for a second series by Channel 4.

Outspoken, out of line and often out of order, DI Vivienne Deering (Joanna Scanlan), DC Dinah Kowalska (Elaine Cassidy) and DS Joy Freers ( Alexandra Roach) will return for eight brand new episodes to strike fear in the hearts of wrong doers and superiors alike. Filming starts in Manchester in early 2016.

Joining our dynamic trio will be our gobby, crusading Friday Street regulars, featuring an ensemble cast of Will Mellor, Paul Ritter, Colin Salmon, Ste Johnston, Tom Varey, Neet Mohan, Saira Choudhry and Charlie May-Clark.

In Paul Abbott’s unflinching hands, this fast paced, taboo-busting drama series will continue to explore the underbelly of Manchester, delivering chilling and moving storylines, set against the lively crime landscape surrounding Friday Street Station.

The new series will see the team investigating a whole new case, involving warring crime families and will see Deering come up against her toughest adversary yet – a woman who is pretty much her mirror image, in her brains, ingenuity and determination, except she’s on the other side of the law!

Paul Abbott will continue to write on the series at his Writers’ Studio alongside Paul Tomalin, Mark Greig and Jimmy Dowdall.

Piers Wenger, Channel 4 Head of Drama says: “ No Offence is not just unlike any other cop show on TV, it’s unlike any other show on TV and we are delighted to announce its return next year. Paul and the cast have set the bar high in terms of thrills, spills and belly laughs this year and we can’t wait to see where they go in series two.”

The first series of No Offence launched on Channel 4 on Monday 5th May 2015 attracting a series average to date of 2.5 million viewers and 10.4% of the audience – up 47% compared with the slot average. The series one finale airs on Tuesday 23rd June at 9pm.

No Offence is commissioned by Piers Wenger Channel 4 Head of Drama, with Roberto Troni and Beth Willis Commissioning Editors. Executive producers are Paul Abbott and Martin Carr.

The new series of No Offence will be a further eight x 60 minute episodes and is produced by AbbottVision.