No Offence to return for a third series

6 July 2017

“[Deering] is a brilliant creation, rude as eff and in your face, but also warm and human, and adored by her team of under-resourced crime-stoppers. Rude and warm, it is a lovely combination.” – The Guardian

“A feast for all the senses.” – The Daily Telegraph

“No Offence’s plotting is clever, its tone original and its dialogue often glorious.” – The Times

“No matter how gritty the crimes get, there’s always this kind of glow coming from the characters. It echoes the genius of Abbott’s earlier series Shameless…there was a never-ending stream of warmth. Just the thing for January nights (and indeed the rest of the year).” – The Daily Express

No Offence, Paul Abbott’s critically-acclaimed, hugely popular, RTS Award-winning and BAFTA-nominated police procedural is set to return to Channel 4 for a third series next year, with D.I. Viv Deering and her team from Friday Street station once more clashing with the underworld and their overlords alike.

This third series kicks off with the attempted assassination of a local politician by a new Far Right group – an attack which has devastating consequences for the Friday Street team. There's no time for tears, though, as not only is the maniac still on the loose but the politicos are turning the situation to their advantage. Viv and Friday Street find themselves pawns in a political chess match, which is the last thing they need as incidents of hate crime soar in the city. Viv's never had it to tough and finds she must deploy every weapon in her arsenal to keep her team together and restore peace to a community wracked with political and xenophobic uncertainty. 

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

Beth Willis, Head of Drama at Channel 4, says: “They're back! I'm counting the days until this joy of a show is back on Channel 4. I cannot wait to see what Paul and his crack team of writers put D.I. Deering and the Friday Street cops through next.”

Paul Abbott, creator and writer, says; “It’s a privilege to dive back into the very British chaos of Inspector Viv Deering and her No Offence police family. I think we’ve struck a great deal with our audience. They expect nothing but the tilted best and we’re truly honoured to serve. Chucking wicked humour at grim reality is a great cocktail for digesting the real world and pretending to make sense of it. Sleeves up! We’re off again.”

The second series No Offence returned even stronger than series 1 (2.3m) attracting a consolidated average audience of 2.5 million viewers per episode and a 9.5% share from 9-10pm on Wednesdays. This impressive performance saw the second series outperform Channel 4's slot average by +19% for volume and +14% for share.

No Offence is commissioned by Beth Willis, Head of Drama at Channel 4, with Lee Mason as Commissioning Executive. The series is produced by AbbottVision and Executive Producers are Paul Abbott and Martin Carr. The series Producer is Phil Leach. Catherine Morshead returns as Director for the first and last blocks.