Thursday saw stars from the BBC flock to Bradford as they attended the premiere of its new six-part crime drama series – Virdee – inspired by best-selling novels by A A Dhand. With Bradford being named City of Culture 2025, it has been a big year to showcase the city.
The author Amit Dhand, who was born and bred in Bradford, said they brought a little bit of Hollywood to the city – with the red carpet set outside St George’s Hall. When asked what it was like filming in his home city, Dhand said: “I was like a child in a toy shop just reliving my youth. I think Bradford has always been the city of culture but it’s nice to get the official title.”
BBC drama Virdee
The show follows DCI Harry Virdee – a detective who is battling with his Sikh family’s disapproval of his choice to marry a Muslim woman alongside his duty to uphold the law. In addition to Virdee’s personal problems, there is the much wider issue of a looming turf war in Bradford as the police’s grip on local gang rivalries begins to falter.
Things only get worse for Virdee when a young dealer is murdered, and Harry has to make the tough choice between saving his city or his family.
Playing Harry Virdee is Staz Nair, best known for his previous roles in Game of Thrones and Rebel Moon, he described the experience as “a dream.” He said: “As someone who wasn’t fortunate enough to spend time with my South Asian culture, this was an opportunity to delve into that culture and get a real glimpse of what that feels like – what we’re proud of and what we stand for.”
Aysha Kala, who plays Harry’s wife Saima, said: “Amit’s lived with these characters for a long time so you want to fulfill them in a way that will make him see his vision and also bring what you feel the character should be as well.”
Bringing opportunities to Bradford
The makers of Virdee partnered with Bradford local council to launch a new regional training initiative offering people in the area the opportunity to break into the world of television. They worked with local production companies Screen Academy Bradford and Screen Yorkshire.
Actor Vikash Bhai, who plays Virdee’s drug kingpin brother-in-law, said: “On the filming side of things the people that we worked with were just incredible, from the cast to the runners to the heads of department so that in itself made the show wonderful to work on.”
Bradfordian actor, Danyal Ismeal, who plays Virdee’s novice colleague, discussed his pride for his city. He said: “Being from here, and hearing about it I had to be on it. I mean come on of course, a crime drama set in Bradford – I’ve got to be a part of this.”
The cast spoke highly of Bradford as a city and the sense of community that was clear from the get-go. With author Amit Dhand referring to it as “the best city in the world”.
Nair said: “I think Bradford’s pride for itself was very evident doing this show and there’s something very infectious about that.”He added: “Once you’ve done the work it’s no longer mine anymore, now it’s what the people think and I really hope they enjoy it as much as we enjoyed making it for them.”
Virdee starts tonight
The new series is set to hit screens at 9pm on Monday 10 February on BBC One and iPlayer. In the meantime, catch this great red carpet interview by Arkodoy Dutta:
