An inspector called

How new British cop drama DI Ray connects to the murder of a Line of Duty character.

DI RAY, full series on AMC+/ Acorn TV from December 19.

When Maya Sondhi got the call that actors in long-running TV shows dread - the one to say the writers are killing off their character - the blow was considerably softened by what happened next.

Line of Duty creator Jed Mercurio had called Sondhi to discuss terminating her character, PC Maneet Bindra, in the show's fifth season (PC Bindra duly had her throat cut in a frantic season-opener), but, she says, "during that conversation, he told me he'd set up his own production company and he knew I was writing scripts. He said he'd love to support me and develop a project together.