The perfect Sunday night drama? Scott & Bailey bows out in style

ITV’s hit Sunday night police drama Scott & Bailey comes to its dramatic climax this weekend – but will it be back on our screens for a second series?

Critics’ favourite?

If you’ve not caught any of the previous five episodes – Scott & Bailey follows the personal and professional lives of Detective Constable Rachel Bailey (Suranne Jones) and Detective Constable Janet Scott (Lesley Sharp)

The two women are members of Manchester Metropolitan Police’s Major Incident Team, whose task is to track down killers. Despite their increasingly grim jobs, they enjoy a warm, engaging, robust friendship, and are passionate about getting the job done effectively. So watch out, inefficient Manchester murderers.

A surprising hit with both viewers and (some) critics, the show has been described as ‘thoroughly excellent’ by Guardian TV critic Grace Dent, ‘unexpectedly good’ by the New Statesman’s Rachel Cooke and ‘so-so’ by the Metro. Oh well, you can’t win them all.

But the show has definitely been a hit with viewers – with strong viewing figures throughout its run, and this Sunday’s finale looks set to finish the series in typically dramatic style.

The final outing

In this week’s episode, Rachel has a lucky escape while walking home when she narrowly avoids being hit by a car. Shaken, she starts pursuing the driver, who has fled on foot, and the next day she suspects the incident was an attempted murder – and that Nick may be involved.

As she tries to deal with the revelation, Janet is left to take charge of the latest case – the gang shooting of a teenager whose friend is a key witness…

The idea behind the show

The original idea for Scott & Bailey came from Suranne Jones, who stars in the series as D.C. Rachel Bailey, and Sally Lindsey, her on screen sister, Alison. Suranne said:

“Sally Lindsey and I first started talking about the idea six years ago. We had left Corrie and were discussing roles for women on television, and particularly those for women in their mid-thirties to late forties. Sometimes there will be a brilliant role, and there are much more nowadays, but other times the roles will be ‘wife or sidekick’ or ‘mistress of’. Our idea was a drama set in Manchester with women in high-ranking roles, one with a family and one that was living a single life, creating characters that would appeal to women.”

Lesley Sharp’s input

When researching for her role, co-star Lesley met with two police officers skilled in interviewing murder suspects.

“I met two amazing officers who are experts in the field of interviewing. It was really fascinating talking to them about the way in which they do their job and do it unthinkingly. It was interesting to hear about how they have to be incredibly focused and not bring into an interview situation the way you feel about a suspect.”

A second series?

The jury is still out on whether the show will return for a second series. When I spoke to ITV earlier, they said a decision on another series won’t be made until they’ve had a look at the figures for this one – so the earliest we’ll hear anything will be in a few weeks. So don’t hold your breath. But in the meantime, console yourself of some of the best bits from this series…

The series trailer

Did you watch Scott & Bailey? Do you want it to come back for a second series? Let us know below.

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