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Ridley viewers seriously distracted as familiar faces reunite in ITV thriller

RIDLEY viewers couldn’t contain their excitement when two familiar faces were reunited on-screen - but not quite as you’d expect.

Adrian Dunbar heads up the cast of ITV’s latest drama thriller fresh off the back of his huge success in popular BBC drama series Line of Duty. 

Two former co-stars were reunited on screen
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Two former co-stars were reunited on screenCredit: ITV
Adrian Dunbar stars as Ridley in the new ITV thriller
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Adrian Dunbar stars as Ridley in the new ITV thrillerCredit: Not known, clear with picture desk

In Sunday’s episode of the brand new series Adrian’s character Alex Ridley was all hands on deck as he got to work solving another murder mystery but many fans couldn’t help but draw comparisons to his former character of Ted Hastings following the appearance of one of his former co-stars. 

Line of Duty star George Costigan made his debut in the brand new series playing the role of Ray Trevice leaving fans seriously distracted.

Ridley meets Ray over an investigation concerning a 40 year old case which is reopened after the sister of the victim, a jazz singer named Eve, urges the police to re investigate. 

George previously starred alongside Adrian in the third and sixth series of Line of Duty as CS Patrick Fairbank.

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Eagle-eyed fans were quick to pick up on the shared screen connection between the two.

One viewer wrote: “After Patrick Fairbank has turned up running a record shop I'm starting to think it's actually Ted undercover in Ridley.”

A second beady eyed fan said: “That’s clearly ex-Chief Superintendent Patrick Fairbank behind all that beard.”

Sharing a picture of the two together in Line of Duty, one fan added: “Fairbank and Hastings reunited again.”

While another said: “They’re playing with our minds goddam!”

George’s character Ray is the owner of a vintage record store which also got fans talking with many of them accusing popular TV dramas of rehashing the same settings in each programme. 

One viewer said: “All recent cop/crime dramas always seem to feature an old record shop!"

In the episode, it appeared Ray was connected to the crime and Ridley was later shocked to discover he was involved in the abuse of a number of teenage boys in the 1980’s drawing comparison to that of George’s previous role in Line of Duty which saw him involved in a sexual abuse storyline.

George Costigan made his first appearance in the new ITV drama
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George Costigan made his first appearance in the new ITV dramaCredit: ITV

Ridley airs Sunday at 8pm on ITV.

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