Scott & Bailey is back – and there’s trouble in store…

Last year, I sat down to watch another TV crime series with a slightly heavy heart. Would it be another by-the-numbers police procedural? Probably. Would it feature someone being murdered by golf ball dispensing machine à la one infamous episode of Midsomer Murders? Probably not.

It wasn’t either of those things – neither plodding or slightly crazy. From the start of the first episode it looked like Scott & Bailey was something very different.

For those of you who missed the first series, the show follows the personal and professional lives of Detective Constable Rachel Bailey and Detective Constable Janet Scott of Manchester Metropolitan Police’s Major Incident Team, whose task is to track down killers. Despite their increasingly grim jobs, they’re passionate about getting the job done effectively.

Secrets and lies

The first thing that struck me about the show was the seemingly authentic, engaging relationship between the characters of Scott & Bailey (Lesley Sharp and Suranne Jones) – and the way they balance their decidedly grim jobs with their sometimes messy private lives. This didn’t seem like a typical detective-with-an-alcohol-problem character twist as in most other detective shows – the mess of their private lives and the way they act in the job were just natural extensions of their personalities.

Scott (Lesley Sharp) was clearly the more ‘together’ of the pair, but as the series transpired it became clear that her seemingly firm grip on her private life was shaky at best. Bailey (Jones) seemed to lurch from one crisis to another, putting her career – and eventually her life – in danger.

Watch series 2 preview clips

What’s happening in series 2?

In the new series, both characters face their toughest personal and professional challenges to date. Scene-stealing Detective Chief Inspector Gill Murray (Amelia Bullmore) still has a careful eye on Rachel Bailey after her past mistakes. Rachel persistently burns the candle at both ends, but her moments of intuitive brilliance make her a terrific copper and give her the potential to make a great D.C.I. one day. If only she can keep her chaotic personal life from impacting on her job. Doesn’t seem likely, frankly.

Speaking about the trials and tribulations Rachel faces in the new series, Suranne said:

“I don’t remember Rachel being this physical last year,” she laughs. “It’s a real rollercoaster filming Scott & Bailey. But my hands and face are alright, which is what they shoot mainly. So I’m glad of that.”

And partner Janet Scott doesn’t get off lightly either. Her private about to become very public. When her marriage hits the rocks and husband Adrian walks out, her ongoing affair with Andy Roper becomes far wider knowledge than she could have feared.

Last series wasn’t exactly kind to her either. One minute she was making a cup of tea in her kitchen. The next she was fighting for life after being stabbed by family friend Geoff Hastings.

Janet comes face-to-face with Geoff, for the first time since he almost killed her, in episode five of the new series. Now behind bars in Manchester’s Strangeways prison, he is brought to Syndicate 9’s HQ insisting he will talk to no-one else but her about the full extent of his crimes.

Lesley Sharp says:

“It’s a real psychological game of cat and mouse and for a while it looks as if Geoff has got the upper hand. There’s a lot at stake in those scenes because he almost took her life away. I love working with Kevin Doyle. He’s an amazing actor and was fantastic as Geoff in the first series. And you find out just how strange and complicated Geoff is in this series.”

Scott & Bailey starts on ITV1, Monday 12 March at 9pm

Will you watch the new series of Scott & Bailey? What did you think of the first series? Let us know below.