This Three-Part British Thriller Could Be Your Next Crime Fix… When a police officer’s undercover husband is killed, she is left with a devastating mystery — and the deeper she digs into his secret life, the more she begins to doubt the investigation around her. Sheridan Smith takes the lead, while Douglas Henshall plays a senior detective overseeing the case. With hidden secrets, police intrigue and a growing sense of danger, the thriller keeps its three-episode story tightly focused. Short, tense and packed with unanswered questions, it’s an easy binge for fans of dark British crime dramas.

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Missing Douglas Henshall’s Shetland? This Three-Part Crime Thriller Is Worth a Look

If you miss Douglas Henshall as DI Jimmy Perez in Shetland, there is another British crime drama that puts him on the other side of a tense investigation. ITV’s Black Work is a tightly packed three-part thriller starring Sheridan Smith as a police officer whose life is thrown into turmoil after her undercover husband is murdered.

First broadcast in 2015, the drama combines a murder investigation with a deeply personal mystery about grief, secrecy and trust. As Jo Gillespie tries to understand what happened to her husband, she discovers that his hidden professional life may hold the key to his death — and begins questioning whether she can trust the people around her.

A murder that exposes a secret life

Sheridan Smith plays PC Jo Gillespie, a Leeds police officer whose husband, DS Ryan Gillespie, is found shot dead in an industrial warehouse.

Jo initially expects her colleagues to handle the investigation. But she soon learns something that changes everything: Ryan had been working undercover, without her knowledge.

The discovery forces Jo to reconsider how well she really knew her husband. Already grieving while caring for her daughter Melly and stepson Hal, she becomes increasingly determined to understand Ryan’s secret work and why it may have put him in danger.

Her superiors, including DCS Will Hepburn and Chief Constable Carolyn Jarecki, encourage her to leave the case to the police. Jo, however, becomes increasingly uneasy as more details about Ryan’s undercover operation emerge.

With the official investigation failing to answer all of her questions, she begins pursuing the truth herself, assisted by her friend and colleague DC Jack Clark.

Douglas Henshall takes on a very different role

woman leaning against wall

For Shetland viewers, Douglas Henshall is perhaps the most familiar face in the cast. Here, however, he plays DCS Will Hepburn, the senior officer overseeing the investigation into Ryan’s death and undercover work.

Kenny Doughty, known for Vera, plays Ryan Gillespie, whose hidden career becomes central to the mystery. Matthew McNulty stars as DC Jack Clark, Jo’s friend and colleague who helps her investigate the circumstances surrounding Ryan’s death.

Geraldine James plays Chief Constable Carolyn Jarecki, while Andrew Knott appears as DS Lee Miekel and Ace Bhatti plays DCI Jahan Kapoor.

The ensemble also includes Sharon Duce, Phil Davis, Vinette Robinson, Andrew Gower, Carla Henry, Honor Kneafsey and Oliver Woollford.

A three-episode mystery that keeps moving

group of police officers in dimly-lit room

With just three episodes, Black Work keeps its central investigation relatively focused.

The first episode introduces Jo’s devastating loss and her discovery that Ryan had been working undercover. By the second, she is digging deeper into his secret life as questions surrounding his work begin to multiply.

Then another body is discovered in the final episode, forcing Jo to confront the possibility that the person responsible for Ryan’s death is still out there. ITV’s episode descriptions underline that progression, with Jo’s investigation becoming increasingly dangerous as she gets closer to the truth.

That compact structure also makes the series easy to watch in a single sitting, with each episode pushing Jo further into a mystery that is as personal as it is professional.

Sheridan Smith at the centre of the story

close-up of sad woman

At its heart, Black Work is Jo’s story.

Her investigation is driven by more than professional duty. She is trying to understand the husband she thought she knew while simultaneously coming to terms with the possibility that his secret work contributed to his death.

The drama uses that personal uncertainty to put pressure on the relationships surrounding Jo. The more she learns about Ryan, the harder it becomes to separate the truth from the secrets he left behind.

Critics at the time praised the show’s pace and Sheridan Smith’s performance, although some reviews found the drama less layered than other major British police thrillers. The Guardian described it as “pacy, tight and intriguing,” while noting that it did not reach the same level of complexity as Line of Duty.

From ITV to Netflix

woman in police uniform

Black Work was created by Matt Charman and directed by Michael Samuels. The three-part drama was filmed across Yorkshire, including Leeds, Otley and Huddersfield.

The series is currently listed on ITVX, where all three episodes are available. It has also appeared in Netflix’s catalogue in some regions, although availability varies by country. Netflix describes the series as a dark British mystery and thriller centred on a widowed police officer who launches her own investigation into her husband’s death.

For viewers who know Henshall from Shetland, Black Work offers a chance to see him in a very different kind of police drama. But the real hook is Sheridan Smith’s Jo — a grieving officer whose search for answers gradually turns into a dangerous investigation of the man she thought she knew.

Three episodes, one murdered undercover officer and a trail of secrets that leads closer to home than Jo ever expected.