Set to return for four feature length films in 2009 – which will see the detective meeting up with an old flame (Sharon Maughan) – the series will also feature guest roles for Jill Halfpenny, Mark Wiliams, Paul Copley, Mary Jo Randle, Tracey Wilkinson and Brendan Coyle.

Lee Ingleby will also reprise his role as sidekick DS John Bacchus.

The show’s creator, Peter Flannery, says: “The joy of writing Gently stories lies in the period and the place. The place [Northumberland] because it’s where I grew up; the period for the same reason, plus it gives me a chance to write about a country on the cusp of change. Each issue I look at at the heart of a crime – abortion, sexuality, youth gangs, child abuse, race, terrorism – all were seen differently in the early ’60s compared to today.”