Ellis (also titled Inspector Ellis) is a British crime drama television series for Channel 5 starring Sharon D. Clarke as Detective Chief Inspector Ellis. It premiered in the United Kingdom on 31 October 2024 on Channel 5 with a three-part series.
A second series, consisting of four episodes, debuted on 10 March 2026.
Contents
Premise
Detective chief inspector (DCI) Ellis and assistant Detective sergeant (DS) Harper are sent to help failing police investigations at different local police stations.
Cast
Main
Sharon D. Clarke as DCI Ellis
Andrew Gower as DS Chet Harper
Recurring
Allison Harding as Assistant chief constable (ACC) Leighton
Charlotte McCurry as Detective Constable (DC) Kate Trent
Episodic
Episode 1: Hanmore
Wayne Fosket as Michael Edwards
Tom McKay as Eric Mercer
Barry O'Connor as Peter Kelly
Chris Reilly as DCI Jim Belmont
Catherine Walker as Louise Edwards
Michael Wildman as Stephen Mason
Kaye Wragg as Linda Bradley
Noa Baurain as Rain Bradley
Tallulah Evans as Carrie Booth
Beau Gadsdon as Amy Mercer
Freya Hannan-Mills as Maggie Bradley
Brian Markey as Charles Braine
Conor Sánchez as Aaron Kelly
Daire Scully as Rowan Edwards
Episode 2: Callorwell
Orla Charlton as Carla Duffy
Tim Dutton as DCI Hain
Jonathan Harden as Adam Reid
Stephanie Levi-John as Naomi McKeith
Paul Mallon as Tim Jones
Sam Marks as DI Jamie Morrison
Kirsten Foster as CSI Christine Bennett
Production
The series is written by Paul Logue and Siân Ejiwunmi-Le Berre and produced by Company Pictures. The three-part series consisting of two-hour episodes is executive produced by Catherine Mackin, Bea Tammer, Michele Buck and Lucy Raffety. Chris Martin is series producer.
Filming took place in Northern Ireland in the spring of 2024. Filming locations included Dromore in County Down, Gracehill in County Antrim near Ballymena,
The series was renewed for a second series with filming scheduled for June 2025.
Broadcast
The series was broadcast on Channel 5 in the UK on 31 October 2024. It was launched internationally shortly after on Acorn TV under the title 'Inspector Ellis'.
The season launched with 'Hanmore' as the pilot and brought in 1.3 million viewers.
It started showing in the Netherlands on BBC NL on 17 July 2026.
Episodes
Reception
Writing in the Radio Times, Morgan Cormack said the show was "really rather good" and far from the cosy-crime genre that some viewers may have expected, and that it had some "very topical, gritty subject matter that has some eerie real-world similarities". Cormack also states that “Ellis certainly isn't the first enigmatic detective to grace our screens” but felt that scriptwriter Ejiwunmi-Le Berre successfully created a character "that doesn't fall into the stereotypical tropes".
