Adrian Dunbar is “really hoping” to sing again in Ridley season 2
Will the actor be able to show off his pipes again in the ITV drama?
Line of Duty's Adrian Dunbar took on the role of a different detective earlier this year in ITV's Ridley, surprising fans with his singing skills as retired officer Alex Ridley in the four-parter.
While ITV is yet to officially renew the drama for a second season, Dunbar has revealed that he's "really hoping" to show off his pipes once again in a follow-up.
Speaking to RadioTimes.com exclusively for The Big RT Interview, the actor said that it was his idea to make Alex Ridley a crime-solver by day and a jazz singer by night.
"That’s something I brought to it myself and I’ve always liked the idea of the Singing Detective, which was a programme that happened many years ago," he said.
"I also thought that as we're going to be up in the northwest, it's going to be cold and everything, wouldn't it be great if there was somewhere else, a location that we can go to, that would be a bit warmer, and a bit more glamorous?"
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He continued: "I've always been singing and so forth. And I thought, 'OK, let's have him do some singing in the club.' And we weren't sure exactly how that was gonna work until I fortuitously came across the work of Richard Hawley, who's a wonderful singer/songwriter from Sheffield."
Dunbar said that Hawley's songs suited the character of Ridley, in that they're "masculine" but channel the grief he's felt.
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"He's still mourning the loss of his wife and his daughter, and that's never going to leave him," the actor explained. "That's always going to be in the background of everything that happens to him. So I thought, the way he might demonstrate that is the songs that he might want to sing."
He added: "So yes, I'm really hoping that we will have some more songs for the next series, if we go."
The Ridley star is taking on a presenting role next in Adrian Dunbar: My Ireland, Channel 5's latest travel show and a follow-up to his series on Coastal Ireland.
You can read the full interview in Adrian Dunbar's Big RT Interview which arrives on RadioTimes.com this Saturday.
Adrian Dunbar's My Ireland airs on 23rd November at Channel 5 at 8pm.
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