IS ADRIAN DUNBAR ACTUALLY SINGING IN RIDLEY? EXPLAINING THE MUSICAL ASPECT OF MYSTERY THRILLER

After a ~three year~ wait, the second season of detective drama Ridley is the iconic TV show finally hitting our screens and we're excited to see where it takes us next.

The show takes us back to the North of England as we're reunited with the reclusive detective Alex Ridley, played by Adrian Dunbar, whose hobbies include solving crime, listening to old records, and...singing in a jazz bar, which he co-owns with Annie Marling, played by Julie Graham.

Yep, when the show originally aired in 2022, the musical elements had many a viewer, well, kind of gagged actually.

What you might not realise is that this particular aspect of the show was thought up by none other than Adrian himself, with the actor presenting his idea to the makers of the show.

"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 told Radio Times.

He explained that the decision to have Ridley co-own and sing in a jazz bar was a creative choice to bring more "warmth" and "glamour" to the English setting. "I also thought that as we're going to be up in the northwest, it's going to be cold and everything," he said. "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?"

Is Adrian Dunbar actually singing in Ridley?

According to Radio Times, Adrian explained that he really is singing in Ridley, and opened up about his musical past.

"I started [out] playing in bands, so being on stage singing is something I've done quite a bit of. And even in my 40s I put another band together and I went out on the road in Ireland, played in pubs and bars and stuff like that, just for my own enjoyment, because I like it," he said.

In an interview released to press, Adrian also explained that the songs were initially released by the musician Richard Hawley.

"I really wanted to do something with music in it, so I suggested that he owned a jazz club. And then I did some research regarding jazz and the north of England and so forth. I came across Richard Hawley, who I didn’t know, and started listening to his songs," he said.

"Subsequently, we contacted Richard and we found three of his songs that we really liked, because I thought they really suited my character. And so we went and recorded them and fitted them into the show," he continued. "And I think that element really works. I also wanted a place within the show every week that you’d go to that was a bit warmer and a bit more glamorous."

Kind of obsessed, we can't lie!

Ridley season two returns to ITV 10 August.

2025-08-10T09:31:29Z