A young woman in a short pink dress walking along a city street at night. A wolf whistle. A white van. Anyone who has ever switched on a TV would know where this montage was heading. It’s not only the routine storyboard of every second crime drama, it’s also always in the news, when the perpetrators sometimes turn out to be in uniform.

Actor Richie Campbell portrays DS Glenn Branston alongside John Simm in the ITV1 drama set in Brighton. More recently, he played Liam Sutcliffe in series one and series two of ITV1’s Liar, Duwayne Brooks in Stephen, and Rothwell Kentish in Small Axe. In a dramatic shootout, Cottan then threw himself in front of Kate Fleming and saved her from being shot. John Simm to star in adaptation of Peter James' Grace for ITV, 19 December 2021". Radio Times . Retrieved 6 March 2021. The series, based on the bestselling novels by novelist Peter James, [2] was adapted by acclaimed screenwriter Russell Lewis, with a pair of films, comprising the novels Dead Simple and Looking Good Dead, filmed in 2020 for broadcast in 2021. [3] Dead Simple, broadcast in March 2021, attracted an estimated 7.2m viewers, which made it the fifth-most-watched programme for the week of 8–14 March, according to BARB. [4]Craig Parkinson as DS Norman Potting in Grace series 3 (Credit: ITV1) Grace Dead Like You cast: Craig Parkinson is DS Norman Potting

In Dead Like You, the first story in a new series, that included the incoming ACC, Cassian Pewe (previously played by James D’Arcy, now reincarnated as Sam Hoare). A lordly chief constable, he found himself under suspicion for a spree of abductions, sexual assaults and a murder, all performed in a rubber suit and some sort of gimp mask. Preposterous, perhaps, but these things do happen. Actors Craig Parkinson as DS Norman Potting and Laura Elphinstone as DS Bella Moy in Grace series 3 (Credit: ITV1) Grace Dead Like You cast: Laura Elphinstone stars as DS Bella Moy In May 2021, Grace was commissioned for a second series. Filming began in September 2021 in the West Sussex town of Burgess Hill. The second series adapts the next three novels in the Grace series, Not Dead Enough, Dead Man's Footsteps and Dead Tomorrow. Broadcasting of the second series commenced in the UK on 24 April 2022, with Looking Good Dead as the opening episode. [13] He’s a great friend to DS Roy Grace, who has been a mentor to Glenn throughout his time in the force. When businesswoman Katya Bishop is brutally murdered, all the evidence points to her businessman husband, Kit ( Arthur Darvill), especially when his girlfriend is also found dead in a similar manner. The only problem being, Kit has a solid alibi for both murders - so how could he possibly be in two places at once? Meanwhile, Grace becomes friendly with new forensic pathologist, Cleo Moray ( Zoe Tapper), but their relationship gets off to a bumpy start when she becomes the latest target of a hitman following every moment of Grace and his team. Could Kit Bishop be connected? And if so, will Grace manage to stop him before he commits any further crimes?

Sunderland-born Laura Elphinstone is one of those faces you’ll recognise from numerous top TV shows and films. She went on to star in Doctors, Holby City, Vera, Peterloo, Game of Thrones, Chenorbyl, Dalgliesh, and Des. A subplot about Grace’s long-lost wife who’s gone missing in Germany is meant to drip-feed tension into his narrative. In this viewer it simply triggered suppressed memories of Downton Abbey when Lady Edith’s chap was condemned to an identical fate because, at a guess, the actor had better things to do with his time.