CASE history
Stars TOM BURKE and HOLLIDAY GRAINGER on why Cormoran and Robin are digging up the past
STRIKE
SUNDAY & MONDAY, 9PM, BBC1 DRAMA (BOX SET, BBC IPLAYER)
We’d love for moody but sensitive private detective Cormoran Strike and his savvy business partner Robin Ellacott to finally declare their true feelings for each other in the new series of BBC1 crime drama Strike, but we might have to wait a bit longer! ‘They’re destined for one another but if they get together too soon, it would never work because they’ve still got a lot to deal with!’ teases Holliday Grainger, who plays Robin, as TV Times joins her and co-star Tom Burke, who portrays the titular character, for a chat.
The four-part run is based on Troubled Blood, the fifth novel in JK Rowling’s Cormoran Strike series, written under her pen name Robert Galbraith.
The plot certainly throws plenty of turmoil the sleuths’ way as they both face personal heartbreak while also tackling a baffling cold case involving the disappearance of GP and young mother Margot Bamborough in 1974.
Margot is rumoured to have become a victim of serial killer Dennis Creed (Finding Alice’s Kenneth Cranham), but Cormoran and Robin trace the doctor’s colleagues and patients – played by guest stars including Robin Askwith and Cherie Lunghi – and uncover surprising new leads.
Here, Tom, 41, and Holliday, 34, share their case notes…
Can fans hold out any hope that Cormoran and Robin will confess their love for each other in this fifth season?
HOLLIDAY People always ask, ‘Are they going to get together?!’ because they really care about them. I love their relationship. They’d be so well-suited. But there’s more at stake for them if they make the first move now – it becomes harder for it to happen because of the business and their love for each other as partners and friends. There’s so much on the line, it almost seems impossible…
TOM I have a sense of where it’s going but that’s top secret! It’s like they keep missing each other. One of them is always slightly more open to the idea of a relationship and in this one, it’s Strike, because of everything else that’s going on.
It’s a shock to him when Joan [Cormoran’s aunt, played by Call the Midwife’s Linda Bassett] calls her, ‘Your Robin.’ But he starts thinking about it in a different way. He’s surprised by his own feelings.
The cold case is keeping them very busy. What draws them to it?
TOM Strike is approached by a lady, Anna [Heartbeat’s Sophie Ward], whose mother Margot went missing many years before and the case has never been solved. There are a lot of suspicious people lurking in the shadows, and Strike and Robin go to different places and follow their noses.
HOLLIDAY Yes, this is their first cold case. They’ve taken it on due to the personal story of Anna losing her mum and wanting to do right by her. They feel close to Margot by the end and want to know what’s happened to her.
Is it tricky for them to make headway?
HOLLIDAY It’s incredibly difficult. Neither of them is expecting to solve the case. So many people involved have disappeared themselves or died, and many lines of enquiry are dead ends – literally. There’s so much evidence that’s not there any more.
TOM Yes, they have a lot of challenges. They are both going, ‘Where do we begin?’ Is it going to be a matter of putting in all the time and effort and then going, ‘We can’t do this one’? So that was a different energy to play.
The case reminds Robin of her past trauma when she was assaulted at university. How does that, and also her messy divorce from husband Matthew (Kerr Logan), affect her?
HOLLIDAY She’s got this sense of anger about injustice towards women and so
this case really speaks to her and she wants to get to the bottom of it; she has a steeliness. And then there’s this acrimonious split. But she’s now free of the emotional restrictions Matthew put on her, so there’s a maturity to her.
We find out more about Cormoran’s troubled background, too, as he returns to Cornwall to see his aunt Joan and uncle Ted (ex-coronation Street star Ian Redford), who raised him…
TOM Yes, Joan’s ill and it’s about his relationship with her and recognising that she was a mother to him. This series is very
much about families and parents. Working with Linda and Ian was wonderful. I’ve known them for years, which made it even more meaningful. They were great and packed in so much emotion.
Tom, you also got the chance to work with your real-life mum, actor Anna Calder-marshall, who stars in this series as Margot’s former colleague, Janice Beattie. Did you enjoy that?
TOM Very much. I was ill that day so it was nice doing scenes with my mum because there was extra sympathy! I’ve never worked with her professionally before, although we – and Linda – once did a local fundraiser together involving Victoria Wood sketches.
HOLLIDAY It’s an amazing cast and a lot of this series is about Strike and Robin interviewing people, so to watch all these well-respected actors turn up and do their piece was such a privilege!
DRAMA 9PM, BBC1, IPLAYER (BOX SET)
Tom Burke and Holliday Grainger make a welcome return as dedicated private eyes Strike and Robin. This time, a disturbing cold case sees them trying to discover what happened to GP Margot Bamborough, who vanished back in 1974. Was she the victim of a sick serial killer or were other forces at work? As ever, the emotional heart of the drama comes from the wonderful will-theywon’t-they chemistry between the two sleuths, who are also facing an increasing barrage of personal woes. Look out for some cracking guest stars including Call the Midwife’s Linda Bassett as Strike’s ailing Cornish aunt, Joan. Continues tomorrow. ★★★★ CC