DETECTIVE DEAD WHO TALKS TO THE
John Simm on playing TV’s latest sleuth Roy Grace, a man who uses mediums to solve murder cases
Mysteries abound in Peter James’s novels about
Brighton detective Roy Grace, but the biggest mystery of all is why his bestselling books haven’t been adapted for TV before. The 16 novels Grace has appeared in since his creation in 2005 have sold more than 18 million copies and been translated into 37 languages.
‘It’s not for want of trying,’ sighs Peter. ‘The books were under option to a TV channel, then they told me, “Great news, we’ve got the money to make the series but we want to set it in Scotland.” I said, “Has anybody actually read the books? Brighton is a key character in the story.”’
That project bit the dust, as did a movie version of Dead
Simple – the first book in the series – that was to have
Downton Abbey’s Hugh Bonneville in the lead role.
But now Grace is coming to the screen in two featurelength dramas starring John Simm. Dead Simple will air tonight with Looking Good
Dead, the second book, to be shown later this year.
Grace seems to have all the ingredients to be a hit. The books are extremely popular, they’ve been adapted for TV by Endeavour creator Russell Lewis, and John Simm is not only a major star, but he can draw on both real and fictional inspiration to play the detective superintendent.
He was DS Marcus Farrow in ITV’s Prey a few years ago, and DI Sam Tyler in the BBC’s acclaimed sci-fi police drama
Life On Mars. Married to actress Kate Magowan, he also has a father-in-law who was an officer in the Met Police. ‘He was very complimentary about the Grace novels’, says John, ‘and this is a man who shouts at the TV if they get anything wrong in a detective drama.’
When we first meet Grace on screen his unorthodox methods, which include using the services of a medium, have seen him demoted from frontline duties to the backwater of cold cases. But one particular cold case occupies his mind day and night. ‘His wife Sandy vanished into thin air on his birthday six years ago,’ says John. ‘Grace is haunted by her disappearance and has pursued every possible avenue of inquiry without finding a shred of evidence as to where she is. He even consulted an old friend of his, Harry Frame, who’s a medium.’
It’s Grace’s willingness to consult Harry Frame in murder cases that lands him in hot water. While giving evidence in a trial at the start of Dead Simple, he admits he’s spoken to Frame. And he has another consultation with Frame about the case at the heart of the series, the disappearance of property developer Michael Neward on his stag night.
This doesn’t go down well with his boss, Assistant Chief Constable Alison Vosper (Rakie Ayola). ‘Grace is on very thin ice, but in his view, whatever it takes to obtain important information is permissible,’ explains John. It might sound like an unusual step for a detective to take, but Peter James says it’s based on fact. ‘I was at a dinner once with the then deputy chief constable of Sussex, and he said I’d be surprised how often it happened. It was only kept quiet because of the kind of Press ridicule Grace endures in Dead Simple.
‘There are people who know more than they let on,’ explains John, who’s enjoying the part of Grace so much he says, ‘I’d take it for life if it were offered. I hope we end up filming all Peter’s novels.’