The devil’s in the detail as Traces returns to TV
Molly Windsor and Martin Compston are back for a new series of Traces. RICHARD JONES learns more
From Silent Witness to CSI, it seems television viewers cannot get enough of forensic crime dramas, with all their technical jargon, evidence gathering and mind-boggling scientific processes.
This week Traces returns for a second series on BBC1 (following its previous broadcast on Alibi) following lab technician Emma Hedges (played by Molly Windsor, who won a BAFTA for Three Girls), who works at the Scottish Institute of Forensic Science.
Line of Duty’s Martin Compston plays her boyfriend Daniel Macafee, and Breaking Bad’s Laura Fraser is Professor Sarah Gordon.
Molly explains that the world of forensic science took some getting used to.
“It’s a different way of thinking,” says Molly, whose breakthrough came when she took the lead role in The Unloved in 2009, aged 11.
“They’re so pragmatic, whereas our career is led by imagination and kind of going off on tangents and being led by emotion...
“I have an even greater respect for the people who do it, so I feel even less capable.”
Molly, who also starred in ITV’S 2019 thriller Cheat, explains how forensic science is helping her character Emma solve her mother’s murder on the hit show, co-created by best-selling author Val Mcdermid and actor and writer Amelia Bullmore, star of Scott and Bailey.
“She’s trying to understand it and that’s where the forensic science is so important because it deals with facts,” she says.
“When you lose someone you love, you try and make sense of it because, emotionally, it doesn’t make sense. They’re not there anymore and you want them there, so then you try and understand it intellectually.
“I think that’s Emma’s way of processing it. She’s never had that opportunity because she was very young when her mum died.
“So to come to forensic science and be so close to looking at the facts, I think it’s that that’s really important and really drives her.”
The new series begins four months after the events of the first one. Emma is no longer a lab assistant, and is training to be a forensic chemist at the Scottish Institute for Forensic Science and Anatomy (SIFA) in Dundee.
Her mother’s murderer has been arrested and closure is within reach – or so she thinks. The trial for the murder of Marie is about to begin. Emma has to appear in court, as does Daniel.
While the pair’s relationship is complicated – Daniel’s dad Phil Macafee (Vincent Regan) murdered Emma’s mum – the pair are still together. For now...
As well as the trial, the team at SIFA are also investigating a bombing at a church hall.
That’s followed by more attacks, and the investigators aren’t sure whether it’s a hate crime. One potential lead eventually has them exploring the dangerous world of incels (an online subculture of young men).
Elsewhere, DI Neil Mckinven (Michael Nardone) and Professor Sarah Gordon’s apparently innocent flirtations seemed to have turned to romance, will the colleagues act on their feelings?
We also receive a glimpse into the personal life of Professor Kathy Torrence (Jennifer Spence), as her lack of social skills come back to bite her at work.
Real life can be baffling, even for these forensic science geniuses. Traces is on Saturday, BBC1, 9.25pm