Inspector George Gently (BBC1, 8pm)

THE genuine Geordie out of three cops at the heart of North-East set George Gently is Lisa McGrillis as canny WPC Rachel Coles, when she's not being talked down to by Lee Ingleby's John Bacchus or encouraged by Martin Shaw's title character.

The thing that McGrillis found out is that Darlington-raised Jim Moir, best-known as Vic Reeves, is a massive fan of the show. "He was asked to play a part in the show last year, but he was busy so had to decline. So this year I had a little word in the producer Peter Norris' ear asking to look out for something for him and he found the perfect cameo in Episode 3. Vic and Bob were my childhood heroes, so getting to work with Jim on Hebburn as my dad was like a dream come true. So it’s lovely to be actual real life friends now I'm not so star struck. After filming he said working on Inspector George Gently was in his top five jobs ever. I'd have to agree, it really is a lovely, lovely thing to be part of," says McGrillis.

This season Jarrow-born Peter Flannery writes the first two episodes – with stories that tap into the period with all its vivid and colourful changes in perfect detail.

"As the 1960s draw to a close the issues facing policing seem more relevant than ever. In film one, we're looking at the way rape complaints are met by the police – and nothing much seems to have really changed there, except perhaps the terminology. And we're looking for the first time at corporate crime, which seems to be always with us. In films one and two Gently makes it a personal task to challenge both vested interests and the traditional ways of doing things – to his cost," Flannery says.

On the subject of working with Shaw and Ingelby, McGrillis says: "It’s brilliant fun, we have a really good laugh, we usually entertain ourselves by coming up with silly scenarios and taking lots of ridiculous photos, I have some proper gems on my phone – I have even made Martin and Lee re-enact some of The Professionals posses from back in the day."

Her character Rachel is working towards her sergeant's exams and she says: "In 1969, it was unusual for a WPC to be doing anything other than making tea and filing. She's moving through the ranks pretty quickly, but purely as a reflection of her ability and Gently's faith in it. I think Bacchus' cynical and sometimes quite sexist reaction to Rachel becoming a sergeant is very accurate for the time: 'What’s the point in her doing her sergeant exams? She'll just go off and have bairns'."

The policewoman role saw Rachel moving into plain clothes and McGrillis says: "Everything was original apart from a beautiful green coat which they had made for me. I tried to steal it at the end of the shoot because it fits like a glove but they wrestled it out my thieving hands. Rachel also likes to embrace a short skirt, I was quite surprised that she'd have that much leg on show in the police station, but I was assured she would have."

There is also a backstory for the WPC with flashbacks to her childhood in the area. "There is nothing like a flashback sequence to get your creative juices flowing. They cast a ten-year-old Rachel. She was a proper cutie with pig tails," she says.

Talking about favourite filming locations moves McGrillis back to episode three. "I enjoyed filming in Newcastle on the quayside, under the iconic high level bridge. In Episode 4 I was on the top of a high rise block of flats with Jody Latham. It was very windy up there and we were standing dangerously close to the edge, so that sticks in my mind," she jokes.

Viv Hardwick