GRACE NOTES
John Simm leads a stellar cast as the detective drama returns for a new four-parter
GRACE
One of the most acclaimed shows to hit the small screen last year, Grace captivated more than eight million viewers. Now, the ITV detective drama based on the best-selling novels by Peter James is back for a second outing.
John Simm and Richie Campbell return as Detective Superintendent Roy Grace and DS Glenn Branson to tackle more murders, from the death of an ex-teacher to a burial at sea gone wrong. And as they find themselves pushed to the limit, their friendship enters uncharted territory.
“The lovely thing with Grace and Branson is that they are genuinely best friends and it really comes across,” John says. “Their relationship is tested simply because Grace cares for him. Something happens that Roy feels guilty about, even though it’s not his fault. He’s worried about Glenn’s mental health because he changes as a result of this event. Fundamentally, they’re a great partnership – and I’ve a great relationship with Richie, too. The cards landed right in the casting.”
Grace is still in trouble with his boss, Assistant Chief Constable
Alison Vosper (Rakie Ayola), who suggests he transfers elsewhere.
“He’s constantly fighting against his bosses, hauled over the coals, but he only cares about getting the job done,” adds John, who lives in Brighton where Grace is filmed and set. “He loves Brighton and doesn’t want to move. When Vosper suggests going somewhere else, he’s horrified.”
Meanwhile, he continues to grapple with the mysterious disappearance six years earlier of his wife, Sandy. But when Cleo Morey (Zoë Tapper), an anatomical pathology technician, enters his life, she changes everything.
“When he meets Cleo he just completely falls for her and it takes him by surprise,” John says. “But it’s difficult for her to be with somebody who is still obsessed with his wife’s disappearance. It causes problems between them. In one episode, the police find the skeletal remains of a woman in a storm drain and for a while Roy thinks it’s his wife. So that completely consumes him and puts his fledgling relationship in a bit of jeopardy.
“Plus, there’s the fact that he’s completely obsessed with his job.
His job is his life, so Cleo’s got a lot to take on.”