SCRATCHING THE SURFACE (DI RAY)

In the non stop parade of ITV thrillers, it takes something extra special to stand out from the pack.

'DI Ray' almost achieves that.

Written and created by 'Line of Duty' actress and occasional screenwriter Maya Sondhi, it is a tale about a detective of South Asian heritage making her way up the ranks of the police in Birmingham 

It follows many familiar police procedural tropes but poses timely questions about institutional racism.

Parminder Nagra of 'ER' and 'Bend It Like Beckham' fame is DI Rachita Ray, an officer commended for her bravery when encountering a distressed man wielding a knife after he stabs a police officer.

The series gets off to a rip-roaring start chronicling the knife incident but it also crucially begins with DI Ray purchasing wine in a Birmingham supermarket and being asked by another customer, an elderly man, where he can find some goods because he assumes as an Asian she works there.

Almost being runover on leaving the supermarket by the attacker in his car, the wine smashes to the floor as she tries to intervene.

Lauded by Ian Puleston-Davies' Superintendent Ross Beardsmore, he offers her the chance to head up a homicide team because she is just the type of officer the Midlands Police needs.

It soon becomes clear what he means when he asks her what her family's ethnic background is.

Punjabi on her mother's side and Bengali on her father's, she replies before adding "I think".

Keeping an eye on Rachita is Gemma Whelan's Detective Chief Inspector Kerry Henderson who is not convinced DI Ray is ready to head up a homicide squad.

Henderson is on her back from the off.

Rachita is assigned to the investigation of a murder of an Asian man that appears to be an honour killing.

In most of her senior colleagues' minds, it is a clear-cut case with the main suspects assumed to be Manpreet Bachu's and Ryan McKen's Kabir and Navin Kapoor.

Events are complicated, though, by the fact that the brothers' beautician sister, Lucky Sanghera's Anjuli Kapoor has gone to ground and may have vital information about the murder.

Through sheer diligence and a refusal to accept the obvious line of enquiry, DI Ray works hard to win over the respect of her team of officers comprising of Steve Oram's DS Clive Bottomley, Peter Bankole's DS Kwesi Edmund, Jessica Temple's DC Carly Lake and the One Direction namesake DC Liam Payne.

Manuuv Thiara's uniformed family liaison officer, PS Tony Khatri is also seconded into the team because of his flair for Punjabi and other languages.

His ease with his South Asian background is in stark contrast to Rachita

At one stage we learn her parents were more focused on integrating into the English way of life and were less enthusiastic about steeping her in Punjabi and Bengali culture. 

They are delighted when she gets engaged to her white boyfriend, Jamie Bamber's DCI Martyn Hunter.

Even though DCI Henderson is constantly on Rachita's back about getting a quick result, the more she and her team delve into the case, the more complex it becomes.

As they start to unearth organised crime links in the case to people and cocaine smuggling and prostitution, Rachita safety and the safety of key suspects is put at risk.

However the case also brings sharply into focus concerns about racial profiling among her colleagues. 

As police thrillers go, the crime story at the heart of 'DI Ray' is pretty ho hum.

With Jed Mercurio on production duties, you kind of know what to expect.

There's an explosive opening, a shady criminal gang at the heart of the conspiracy, police watching other police, intense interrogations and corruption.

It's what you always tend to get from 'Line of Duty' style shows.

But what really drags out 'DI Ray' of the humdrum is Sondhi's injection of racial dynamics into the plot.

Not only is it refreshing to see a second generation South Asian lead wrestling with her own ambivalence towards her own identity but it is great to see the lazy assumptions of her police colleagues being challenged.

What Sondhi does particularly well is showing the subtleties of institutional racism and sexism.

Something as simple as Rachita being given the wrong pass for work on her first day by Demelza O'Sullivan's PC Debs Knott speaks volumes - it belongs to another officer of Asian origin.

And in a wonderfully ironic twist, the same PC files a complaint against DI Ray for bullying her in front of colleagues after she corrects her for getting her rank wrong.

As refreshing as these elements are, 'DI Ray' at times drags its feet in the execution of its investigative story.

You feel it could have been sharper if it had been trimmed back to three episodes instead of four.

The unmasking of a corrupt officer is a bit predictable and the ballooning of a murder case into an organised crime conspiracy doesn't always convince.

Nevertheless Nagra makes for a decent and determined lead, while Thiara and McKen also impress.

Sondhi and her directors, Audrey Cooke and Alex Pillai keep the door open to a follow up series and it is an opportunity that should probably be grabbed.

There's plenty of material to work with for a 'DI Ray' sequel.

If they can just get the pacing right and avoid the rather obvious use of the 'Line of Duty' conspiracy theory jelly mould, 'DI Ray' might well provide a refreshing twist on the English police series.

('DI Ray' was broadcast on ITV from May 2-5, 2022)