Virdee episode 1 recap: 'If you act like a dog'

This Virdee episode 1 recap contains spoilers... Get ready for a tale of forbidden love, gang rivalry and murder in this dark BBC One crime thriller about a Bradford cop who finds himself on the trail of a terrifying serial killer.

Based on the novels of A.A. Dhand, the six-part drama tells the story of DCI Harry Virdee (Staz Nair), who struggles to stay on the right side of the law as he hunts a man preying on the city’s Asian community.

Here's how the first episode of the six-part thriller went down...

We begin with DCI Harry Virdee chasing a suspect through the dark streets of Bradford, all shot in a washed out colour palette that reminds us of the hit Idris Elba crime caper, Luther. The chase eventually ends on the railway lines, where Harry saves his quarry at the last minute, demanding to know where missing 14 year-old boy Ateeq Farooqi is.

But after he’s caught his man, Harry has no time to book him because he’s “late for a wedding”. The wedding in question serves to illustrate a main theme of the series, which is the estrangement of Harry and his Muslim wife Saima (Aysha Kala) from his Sikh family. Or his estrangement from Harry’s father, Ranjit (Kulvinder Ghir) we should say.

But before he gets there, Harry stops off to visit his brother-in-law Riaz Hyatt (Vikash Bhai), the leader of a powerful Bradford drug gang, Bradford West. “It’s only a matter of time before Saima sees us like this,” says Harry.

At the wedding, everyone welcomes Harry and Saima, apart from Harry’s "racist old man’" and his ex-girlfriend. Yet with his son, Aaron, now five years old, Harry is determined to try and reconcile with his father.

It does not go well and his father leaves without speaking to him, however, his mother Jyoti (Sudha Buchar) is more pleased to see him and allows him and Saima to bow before her, a meaningful act that shows acceptance and love. When they get home, Harry and Saima say goodbye to their friend Nadia Ansari (Hussina Raja) who’s been babysitting little Aaron.

'Snitches get ditches...'

The next morning Novak wakes up after surgery and Harry can’t wait to question him about missing teenager Ateeq Farooqi. However when his boss DS Clare Conway (Elizabeth Berrington) arrives, she’s furious to find he’s grilling him without a lawyer, which is against protocol. But it’s also clear she’s under pressure to scale back the search for Ateeq Farooqi, who’s been missing for nearly two weeks. Harry’s not happy about that though.

At the station, Harry meets DS Khalil Amin (Danyal Ismail), his new sidekick, who helpfully dumps a load of plot about the gangland situation in Bradford. We now know there are two drug gangs, the Shala operation, run by Vasil Shala (Andi Jashy) and the West Side outfit, whose leader has not yet been identified by the police — although we and Harry know it’s his brother-in-law, Riaz.

Thanks for that DS Amin and thanks to Harry, who comes up with our favorite line of the episode when asked if they are standing in his office. “I don’t do desks,” he tells his new colleague. Sensational stuff.

Determined to find Ateeq, Harry seeks out a low level dealer — or a CHIS (Covert Human Intelligence Source) — for information. However, it seems that if Ateeq has been working for the drug gangs, he’s also been chatting to the police. Yet Harry knew that, because he was the informant who gave him Novak. “Snitches get ditches,” says Harry’s mark, with grim originality.

Elsewhere, Priti Parmar counts her cash and sets off for work in a beauty parlor. She’s switched sides from the Shala gang to work for the West Side, which could be dangerous according to her colleague. “I heard Ateeq tried switching,” he says. “People that do that get taken.”

Yet as their conversation ends, Priti’s ex turns up, which is a breach of his restraining order. He seems like a real piece of work. However, her current beau also seems a bit suspicious to us.

'No bodies...'

After interviewing Novak and getting nowhere, Harry is doorstepped by Vasil Shala, who offers him a suitcase of money for ‘friendship’ and for help taking down those “Bradford West parasites”. Harry rejects the offer, but it’s clear Shala suspects the detective is working with his rivals. “Where is the kid?” asks Harry fruitlessly. Yet Shala is also looking for someone as Novak has gone missing.

Riaz has picked him up and when Harry goes to see him he says Shala crew need to go as unlike him, they use kids to transport drugs. “There’s always going to be a boss in this city,” he says. “It might as well be one you can work with.”

We then get a bit more info when Riaz says it was him that kept Harry out of prison, yet the detective tells him he’s trying to change the city in the right way and makes him promise there will be “no bodies..”

Novak finally reveals Ateeq is in Carlton Mills and Riaz orders his man to tape his confession, as insurance to stop him from telling his boss about what’s happened. “If he messes it up, you can bury him,” he says.

Harry’s boss orders him not to enter Carlton Mills alone, but he does because he’s a badass, and has no trouble dealing with the henchmen who attack him when he gets there. Luckily he finds Ateeq (Yousef Naseer) alive. “They’ve put something in me,” says the teenager. “Get me out of here.”

DS Conway asks Harry where he got the intel about Ateeq and Harry lies, saying the CHIS gave him the info. DS Amin backs him up, even though he knows he’s lying.

With his son Aaron asking more questions about his roots, Harry decides to try and make peace with his father and reckons Diwali, which is just around the corner, could be the perfect time.

Meanwhile Novak turns up dead and DS Conway is clearly suspicious about why and where Harry was before he found out about Ateeq’s whereabouts. The detective heads to his brother-in-law’s, believing he killed Novak, but Riaz swears he didn’t and says he thinks Shala did it so he can start a turf war.

'If you act like a dog...'

Inspired by the fireworks at Diwali, Harry takes some of Saima’s food to his family’s house. His father Ranjit isn’t pleased to see him, but asks him to show the family how sorry he is, “the old-fashioned way”. He tells him to get on his knees and apologise, but when he does Ranjit pours Saima’s curry all over his head. “If you act like a dog, you must also eat like a dog,” he says.

A furious row erupts, in which Harry and his father both issue a string of threats. All in all, it’s a horrible scene of bitterness, fury and intransigence. “Nothing you do will ever be enough for that man,” says a tearful Saima, but tells him she loves him. However later that night, Ranjit clutches his chest in pain, apparently suffering from a heart attack.

On the other side of town, Priti Parmar bids farewell to her boyfriend after a night of passion at The Member’s Club is murdered by a mysterious stranger.