Star Parminder Nagra and writer Maya Sondhi spoke to acv earlier this year about the latest series in this crime drama with an Asian woman detective at the centre of it all…
THERE simply aren’t many like her – in fact she is one of a kind.
Detective Inspector (DI) Rachita Ray returned to our screens (UK only) yesterday evening (Sunday, October 21) in the second series of writer Maya Sondhi’s ITV new six-part crime series that bears her main character’s name in the title.
‘DI Ray’ is played by Parminder Nagra (of ‘Bend it Like Beckham’ fame). Her character’s come a long way since the first series aired in spring of 2022 – that time it was just four episodes – now it is six and has the same impressive team behind it: the nation’s favourite crime drama writer and producer, Jed Mercurio, responsible for the BBC’s ‘Line of Duty’, one of the biggest drama shows in the UK.
Sondhi, who is an actor also, was killed off in the last ‘Line of Duty’ – is ‘DI Ray’ her revenge? The BBC programme has iconic status and is also a police procedural.
Sondhi joked : “He (Jed Mecurio) owes me one – I suggested it to him after we’d had some red wine at a lunch – ‘you can’t just have her (PC Maneet Bindra) in the background – (of ‘Line of Duty’) because she’s been dodgy – why don’t you do something dramatic?’
And you know what, he came back to me a bit later and said: ‘I’ve been thinking and it’s a really good idea (killing PC Bindra off)’.”
Sondhi said she had told Mercurio she was working on a drama about girl gangs set in Birmingham before ‘DI Ray’ came into being.
“I wanted to write about identity. And his thing is police procedurals and so it was, why don’t we put the two together? ‘Line of Duty’ with a brown person…” She laughed.
There’s a lot going on with DI Ray when we meet her again in Series II – she is considering action against her employers and the same team still have some doubts about her – especially as her personal life is in turmoil – her detective fiancée has been shot and faces criminal charges.
Nagra said she has a better sense of who DI Ray is, this time around.
“I felt much surer of who she was and from where she came from and how I was going to approach episode one (of Series 2) and then see how it ramped up from there.
“She is going back (to the same team and is asking herself) ‘Do I want to work with these same people again?’ She’s quite pragmatic – she’s just trying to keep her head above the water but emotionally she’s paddling quite hard because I don’t think she knows where she’s at. It’s hard for her to trust anybody after the situation she found herself in.”
For Sondhi having an Asian woman detective at the heart of the prime-time drama is important.
“It isn’t just another cop show – there are a million of them. We have a South Asian female lead and it’s different in that respect, so it would be mad not to have a look at some issues.”
Ray is back on the trail of love in her personal life, admitted Sondhi – and there maybe other liaisons from the team too.
“There may or may not be some love interest situations – maybe more than one,” hinted Sondhi, speaking to a trio of outlets of which www.asianculturevulture.com was one.
“And there’s a lot in this crime story that brings up a lot of stuff for Rachita in her personal life.
“Her mum (played by Shobhu Kapoor) comes in – and she’s different – you see a lot of South Asian matriarch figures – either being the stayat home wife or quite sweet; Rachita’s was a career woman and was driven and neglected her daughter because she was bothered about what people might say (about her commitment to her work),” revealed Sondhi.
The microaggressions and petty slights still feature ofr Rachita – but the main thrust of the drama remains the investigation.
This series is directed by Nirpal Bhogal (‘Endeavour’) for four of the six episodes and for two episodes, Audrey Cooke.
Sondhi said the show will look and feel a bit different.
“Birmingham features more – there’s the potential unrest that comes from the case she’s investigating and it feels like it is on a bigger scale – Bhogal, and our director of photography Adam Lyons have done an amazing job of really capturing those moments when Rachita is on her own and seeing this isolated figure within this whole landscape of Birmingham.”
The series is produced by HTM Television, an independent production company, co-owned by Mercurio and Hat Trick Managing Director Jimmy Mulville.
DI RACHITA RAY is a wonderful creation – a modern woman for our times, caught between many things: last night she ditched her ready meal microwave curry (it looked like that) for a mug of wine and started working from home. It’s another twisty investigation with more to it than meets the eye – when an unsuspecting and innocent nurse is gunned down in a drive by shooting outside her hospital in what looks like a professional hit job – no one thinks she is the target and under the radar are a local crime boss and a Leicester Asian family who have a new jewellery shop in the city – and whose tentacles sometimes go where they should probably not. There is more of the team around DI Ray (Nagra) now and how they all interact. It’s a good production and Sondhi mixes the drama with real life politics (with a small P but indicative of larger currents) in the force. Unique and compelling.
ACV rating after episode 1: **** (out of five).
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Listing
The series continues tonight (Monday October 21) AT 9pm on ITV and episode three tomorrow evening with the final episodes playing on consecutive evenings from Sunday (October 27) again
ITV player (UK): DI Ray on ITV
Previously
