NORTH-EAST detective Inspector George Gently is back in front of the cameras as Martin Shaw films new investigations for BBC1.

It’s 1969 and Gently (Martin Shaw) and Bacchus (Lee Ingleby) are suffering from their own physical and mental scars several months after the horrific shootings that nearly claimed their lives in Durham Cathedral.

Gently has been pushing himself to full fitness and is back at work, while Bacchus is still recuperating from his serious injuries in a police convalescent home.

Gently Between the Lines by Tim Prager, sees Gently shocked to receive Bacchus’ resignation, but he realises that his sergeant has lost his confidence. Setting about to fix Bacchus, Gently insists that while he serves out his notice, he needs him to help investigate a death in custody.

The second episode, Green for Greencoat, by Jess Williams, takes Gently and Bacchus to a family holiday camp to investigate staff and holidaymakers, when the body of one of the greencoats is washed up nearby.

Episode three, Gently Going Under, by Mike Cullen, sees the painful effects that the pressures on the coal mining industry in Northumberland have on a close-knit pit community.

A suspicious death in the mine, in Burnsend, leads Gently and Bacchus to explore the tensions and relationships in a community whose seams have been ripped wide open by politics – and discover grudges that date back to the Second World War.

The final episode this season is Gently from the Cold, also by Jess Williams.

When two deaths connect in an unexpected way, Gently finds himself drawn into the world of drugs and considering a Cold War conspiracy.

The series is being filmed in the North-East.

THE BBC has commissioned a BBC3 drama strand exclusively for BBC iPlayer. The venture, between BBC iPlayer, BBC3 and BBC Drama Production, is for six original short films over two years, written and directed by the best up-and-coming writing and directing talent from across the UK.

This builds on BBC iPlayer’s strategy to showcase more exclusive content within the service in 2013 and on the BBC Writersroom’s ongoing commitment to bring the best new writers to UK audiences.

Last year, the BBC brought selected online-only programmes to audiences via BBC iPlayer, including BBC3 Feed My Funny new talent comedy pilots, a Doctor Who mini-series called Pond Life, and curated archive programmes for BBC4.

These proved popular on BBC iPlayer, with Pond Life receiving more than five million requests, the BBC3 comedy pilots more than one million requests and the BBC4 archive programmes receiving more than two million cumulative requests.

A NEW comedy drama for CBBC will follow a boy whose moves with his parents, brother and sister from London to Scarborough in a family home that doubles as a B&B.

Family By Sea (working title) is a 13-part series centred around a highly-imaginative boy with heroic leadership skills, qualities that combine to create amazing adventures and terrible chaos.

CBBC has also commissioned a weekly comedy called DNN, taking in the past seven days in news and popular culture.

Set in a spoof news studio, the cast of larger-than-life news anchors and correspondents will put their own unique spin on topical stories through irreverent sketches, hilarious archive clips as well as plenty of silly physical comedy.