DI Ray

DI Ray is a British police procedural television series created and written by Maya Sondhi and produced by Jed Mercurio. DI Ray stars Parminder Nagra in the title role as a Detective Inspector in a fictitious Birmingham-based police force. The cast also includes Gemma Whelan and Jamie Bamber. The first series of four episodes aired on ITV beginning 2 May 2022. The Canadian CBC title is D. I. Ray.

In November 2022, it was announced that the series was renewed for a six-episode second series, which was due to begin filming in 2023.

Cast

 * Parminder Nagra as DI Rachita Ray
 * Gemma Whelan as DCI Kerry Henderson
 * Jamie Bamber as DCI Martyn Hunter
 * Sam Baker-Jones as DC Liam Payne
 * Peter Bankole as DS Kwesi Edmund
 * Maanuv Thiara as PS Tony Khatri
 * Jessica Temple as DC Carly Lake
 * Steve Oram as DS Clive Bottomlyy

Production
The series was filmed during October and November 2021 in locations including Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter and outside Lloyd House police station.

Critical response
Lucy Mangan, writing for The Guardian, gave the series three out of a possible five stars. She praised Sondhi's use of "tangled motivations that hold the viewers' interest" to create a "police procedural with a fresh perspective" but felt that the story "at times moves a bit too slowly" and "feels a bit too by-numbers". Sean O'Grady for The Independent gave the series four stars out of five, describing the lead character as "a smart, sassy, tough telly detective" and summarising "low key in tone and atmosphere, DI Ray, cop and show, that is, deserves to be a success. Mercurio ticks another box."