# Inspector George Gently (2008)

> In 1960s Britain, an old-school detective struggles to hold onto his principles as the line between police and criminals blurs.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/12380

## Facts

- Seasons: 8
- Episodes: 25
- Episode runtime: 90 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: crime, mystery, drama
- Created by: Peter Flannery
- Network: BBC One
- Cast: Martin Shaw, Lee Ingleby, Simon Hubbard, Lisa McGrillis, Richard Armitage, Christian Oliver, Charlotte Riley, Tim Healy
- TMDB rating: 8.1/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1430509/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: mild
- Complexity: accessible
- Violence: mild
- Tone: melancholic, weary, measured, gritty

## What critics say

Audiences generally rate the series positively, valuing its period atmosphere and Martin Shaw's lead performance as a weathered detective.

## Synopsis

Inspector George Gently (2008-2017) is a British BBC One period crime drama created by Peter Flannery. Martin Shaw plays the weathered title detective, an old-school police inspector who clings to his codes while the boundary between the force and the criminals he chases grows increasingly blurred. Lee Ingleby co-stars as his sharper, younger partner John Bacchus, and Simon Hubbard plays PC Taylor, whose loyalties and routines are tested alongside them. Across eight seasons and twenty-five feature-length ninety-minute episodes, each story is a self-contained case built from murders, cover-ups and local rivalries that expose how the postwar institutions of the force bend under pressure. The engine of the series is the tension between Gently's stubborn moral certainty and a world where the rules are quietly rewritten. The tone is melancholic and unhurried, with a wistful, weary feel for a country in transition. Set in 1960s Britain, the show has the texture of a grounded police procedural with a period drama's attention to clothing, cars and everyday speech. Fans of Foyle's War and Life on Mars will find resonance in its British detective sensibility and its interest in a bruised postwar society.

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