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THE BEST TV LISTINGS
The capital’s gritty locations are the stars in a new detective drama that follows the links between a series of violent deaths
Our 52-page guide includes Jaci Stephen’s Soap Watch, your essential Movie Planner and a preview of intriguing new detective drama London Kills
David Bradford is an excellent detective but there’s a mystery in his own family that he just can’t solve. Three months ago, his wife disappeared and he has no idea what has happened to her. Has Sarah been murdered, abducted or simply chosen to walk out on their volatile marriage? That’s the thread running through BBC1’s atmospheric new daytime thriller series London Kills, which airs Monday to Friday this week.
‘ His wife’s disappearance preys on Bradford’s mind but he wants to get back to doing what he does best – leading his murder inquiry team,’ says Hugo Speer, who plays him.
Bradford’s on compassionate leave, but it’s not long before he returns to the fray and his colleagues, who include DS Vivienne Cole, DC Rob Brady and trainee DC Billie Fitzgerald. He makes an unexpected entrance following the brutal killing of an MP’s son, who has been stabbed to death and left hanging from a tree in a park. As Cole is preparing to lead the murder hunt, Bradford rolls up in his flashy Mercedes and takes control.
‘He returns before he has to because he’s going stir crazy at home,’ says Hugo, who is best known for his roles in striptease comedy The Full Monty and period detective drama Father Brown. ‘All he can think about is his missing wife and what
may or may not have happened to her. Going back to work gives him a new focus. He wants to be busy solving cases – as well as finding Sarah.’
And there’s no shortage of crimes to investigate. It looks an open- and- shut case when a groom is killed during his stag party in Soho. His 18-year- old best man is prime suspect and looks even guiltier when he does a vanishing act soon after the crime is committed. Then there’s the widow of a man killed on his houseboat who has awkward questions to answer when it emerges that she knew about his affair with his best friend’s wife. And when the body of a woman is found close to a river, could she be the victim of a man she met
through a dating website? The plot thickens when it emerges she may have been party to a suicide pact.
Intriguingly, a link emerges between the various cases, and they also provide a clue about the disappearance of Bradford’s wife. Matters come to a dramatic and possibly fatal head in episode five.
London Kills often has the feel of a drama-documentary, as the main characters were filmed at close quarters using hand-held cameras.
‘We used locations right across London rather than filming in police interview rooms and offices,’ says Hugo. ‘There was a real pace and energy about filming which hopefully translates to the screen.’
London Kills, Monday- Friday, 1.45pm, BBC1.