Dalgliesh second series
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Dalgliesh finale on Channel 5 sparks hopes for a second series with Bertie Carvel

The six-part series comes to an end this week

Dalgliesh concludes on Channel 5 this week leaving fans of the show wanting more – so will there be a second series of the detective drama?

Bertie Carvel stars in the title role of DCI Adam Dalgliesh, but will he return?

The final episode in the latest version of the crime drama based on the novels of PD James ends this week (Friday November 19 2021).

Here’s everything you need to know about a possible return for Adam Dalgliesh in series two.

Dalgliesh on C5
Bertie Carvel stars as Adam Dalgliesh in the C5 adaptation of the PD James novels (Credit: Channel 5)

Read more: Bertie Carvel in Dalgliesh: How did he become famous and why did he almost turn down Doctor Foster?

Dalgliesh second series

Channel 5 has not yet confirmed if there’ll be a second series of Dalgliesh.

However, it’s looking VERY likely.

The series has been a hit with viewers and critics alike.

The Times said the “series could run and run”, while the Guardian wrote: “This is a solid, old-school production, no bells and whistles, which these days feels hysterically radical.

“Sometimes it just works to have a good story plainly told.”

PD James wrote 14 Dalgliesh books in total.

So there’s plenty more material to be adapted in the future.

Watch this space.

Will Bertie Carvel be back in a second series of Dalgliesh?

Should Channel 5 commission another series of Dalgliesh, the iconic detective would HAVE to be played by Bertie Carvel.

The Doctor Foster actor, 44, made the role his own in series one of the detective drama.

Bertie sounds like he’d be up for reprising the role, too.

He recently said: “PD James’ Inspector Dalgliesh is a gift of a part.”

Dalgliesh on Channel 5: What happens in episode one?
Dalgliesh investigates a murder at a nurses’ training college, while also grieving for his dead wife and baby (Credit: Channel 5)

Read more: Alice Nokes in Dalgliesh: Who did she play in EastEnders and why did she leave?

Dalgliesh on C5 – other novels that could be adapted

Series one of Dalgliesh consists of three two-part films, adapting three of PD James’ Inspector Dalgliesh Mysteries tales.

The three stories adapted are Shroud for a Nightingale, The Black Tower, and A Taste for Death.

These aren’t actually in the order of publication.

In fact, A Taste for Death is the seventh novel in the Dalgliesh series.

The first ever Dalgliesh novel was Cover Her Face, published in 1962.

This was followed by A Mind to Murder, Unnatural Causes and then Shroud for a Nightingale.

Death of an Expert Witness, Devices and Desires, Original Sin, A Certain Justice are also books which have yet to be adapted.

Then there’s PD James’ later Dalgliesh books – Death in Holy Orders, The Murder Room, The Lighthouse and The Private Patient.

Dalgliesh A Taste of Death plot

Dalgliesh’s final two-parter on Channel 5 is an adaptation of A Taste of Death.

The series, based on the novels of PD James, concludes on Friday November 19 2021.

A Taste of Death is the seventh novel in the Adam Dalgliesh series.

DCI Dalgliesh is called after the warden of St Matthew’s Church in Paddington discovers the bodies of two men with their throats slashed in the vestry.

The men come from very different walks of life…

One is Sir Paul Berowne, a baronet and recently resigned Tory MP.

The other is a homeless man called Harry Mack.

Initially, DCI Adam Dalgliesh and his team ponder the possibility of suicide.

But this is murder. Of course it is!

In the concluding part, Dalgliesh brings Swayne and Lampart in for questioning, after the attack on Father Barnes while Halliwell was in custody.

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Dalgliesh A Taste of Death concludes on Friday November 19 2021 at 9pm on Channel 5.

Would you like to see more of Dalgliesh on Channel 5? Leave us a comment on our Facebook page @EntertainmentDailyFix.


Helen Fear
TV Editor