Stephen Tompkinson on DCI Banks: 'What makes him extraordinary is his ordinariness'

The detective’s feelings for Annie Cabbot are driving him to distraction, says actor Stephen Tompkinson

Of all the slow-burn love affairs TV has delivered in recent years, DCI Banks’ has been one of the most compelling.

Against a lowering Yorkshire sky and in a milieu in which grisly murders are as common as rain showers, Stephen Tompkinson’s DCI Alan Banks and Andrea Lowe’s DS Annie Cabbot have inched toward a romance that may mitigate the grim reality of their day jobs. 

As the fourth series begins, Banks, Cabbot and their colleague DI Helen Morton (Caroline Catz) tackle three more gruesome murders. Yet Stephen explains that his workaholic cop character Banks is still single.

After a volte-face last series that saw him declare his love for Cabbot, he has now decided to concentrate on repairing matters with his wayward daughter, Tracy. 

As the new series opens, says Stephen, it seems it may be too late.

“Annie is back in touch with her daughter Isla’s biological father, David Hornby [Edward MacLiam],” explains Stephen, 49. “Banks has missed the boat and he’s very conflicted. His feelings haven’t changed, but he knows that Annie’s doing the right thing and is trying to convince himself that if she’s happy, he’s happy. But he’s not really feeling it.”

The will-they, won’t-they central love story and the depiction of everyday Yorkshire coppers are strands that keep five million viewers tuning in to the series, which is based on the acclaimed novels by Peter Robinson.

“There are no bells and whistles and quirks with Banks,” says Stephen. “What makes him extraordinary is his ordinariness. The police are ordinary people and policing is a vocation. That’s what Banks is like.”

This series is the first to feature stories not from Robinson’s books, although the author is still involved as a consultant.

The crimes have a dark centre and the first investigation is into the discovery of the corpse of an Estonian woman who appears to have been buried alive. The second crime is the murder of an eminent lawyer whose employees have motives for wanting her dead and the third involves the killing of a university student whose friends were unaware of his secret double life. 

Alongside the investigations run the characters’ personal lives. As if Banks’ tumultuous love life wasn’t problematic enough, he has another family tragedy to cope with after the death of his brother, Roy, in series two. 

Banks’ mother (Polly Hemingway) dies in the first episode, leaving just Banks and his irascible father, Arthur (Keith Barron) in the family. The fact that Arthur is a staunch left-winger who disapproves of his son’s career leads to strife between the men, but also gives Banks a chance to reflect. 

“Now Arthur has retired and lost his wife, Banks realises that this could be him too farther down the line,” says Stephen. “As we build to the final episode we see Banks trying to build to a more positive future.” 

Andrea Lowe’s DS Cabbot is juggling work with raising her toddler daughter, Isla, a situation Andrea understands all too well. She has a three-year-old son with her partner, fashion buyer Terry Betts. 

Compounding the problem for Andrea is the fact that DCI Banks is filmed in Yorkshire and Andrea lives in London. 

“It’s difficult being away from him and I always really look forward to days when the girl who plays Isla is filming,” says Andrea, 40. She reports that fans of DCI Banks regularly stop her to express their hope that its central pair get it together. 

“A lot of fans tell me they want them to give it a proper go between cracking crime,” she says. “A part of me wants it too, but I don’t know how it would work – Banks and Annie sharing a car to work each day? We’ll see.”

DCI Banks, Wednesday, 9pm, ITV