Sarah Parish to return to ITV for Bancroft series 2

The mini series was originally set to air on ITV Encore, but after ITV's original drama Hatton Garden was removed from the schedules, the new series stepped in, and ended up averaging 6.7 million viewers per episode according to ITV.

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Series two will once again have four episodes when it returns.

"The new series focuses on Bancroft’s continuing success following her promotion to Detective Chief Superintendent," a statement from ITV explains.

"She’s popular with her colleagues, and her crime figures are down. However, her success comes at a price, as she’s lonely and estranged from her beloved son Joe and under pressure as a result of her dangerous pact with crime boss Daanish Kamara.

"When Joe is inadvertently dragged into the middle of a double murder case, Bancroft determines to do anything to protect her son and finds herself up against a chilling new antagonist."

The new series will go into production in 2018 and will be filmed in Bolton and the North West of England.

Writer and creator Kate Brooke said: "In Bancroft I wanted to explore a contentious anti-heroine, a woman we love and loathe in equal measure.

"I’m thrilled to be continuing her story. In this new series the repercussions of her past actions will come back to bite her in ways she could never have expected."

Catherine Oldfield, Executive Producer for Tall Story Pictures added: "That the audience took to Elizabeth Bancroft in all her terrible, distorted glory in such numbers is fantastic.

"Kate has loads of brilliant twists and turns in store for this new series and I can’t wait to see what Sarah and the cast do with them."

Meanwhile Head of Drama at ITV Polly Hill has said that the second phase of Bancroft's journey "promises to be as intriguing as series one."

This article was originally published on 13 February 2018