John Simm begins filming ‘Endeavour’ creator’s new ITV detective drama

Production has commenced on ITV’s Grace series.

It was announced back in January that Endeavour writer Russell Lewis is adapting Peter James’ award winning Roy Grace novels for television.

The 120-minute adaptations will bring to life the first two stories in the series, Dead Simple and Looking Good Dead.

Grace will introduce Life on Mars star John Simm as Brighton-based Detective Superintendent Roy Grace, a hard-working police officer who has given his life to the job.

Filming is now underway in Brighton, England, directed by John Alexander (Belgravia, Jamestown).

The cast also includes Richie Campbell (Liar) as DS Glenn Branson, Rakie Ayola (Shetland) as ACC Vosper, Laura Elphinstone (Game of Thrones) as DS Bella Moy, Amaka Okafor (Vera) as DC Emma Jane Boutwood, and Brad Morrison (Twelfth Night) as DC Nicholl.

They’ll be joined by Rebecca Scrogs (Scarborough) as Branson’s wife Ari, and Alexander Cobb (Vera) as Kevin Spinella, alongside Adrian Rawlings (Chernobyl), Natasha Joseph (Doctors), Tom Weston-Jones (Dickensian), Matt Stokoe (Jamestown), Alisha Bailey (Save Me), and Maggie O’Neill (Shameless).

The official synopsis for the first film reads: “Dead Simple opens with Grace running enquiries into long forgotten cold cases with little or no prospect of success. He’s fixated by the disappearance of his beloved wife, Sandy, which haunts his thoughts. His unorthodox police methods have come under scrutiny once again and Grace is walking a career tightrope and risks being moved from the job he loves most.

“With so much at stake, his colleague Detective Sergeant Glenn Branson knows he has more to give and asks him for help with a case. When a stag night prank appears to go wrong and the groom goes missing, Branson calls upon Grace to unravel events that led to the mysterious disappearance three days before his wedding to his beautiful fiancé.

“A successful property developer with everything to live for, there is no trace of the missing groom. Is this a case of stag night shenanigans gone badly awry? Or is this something more sinister?

“With nothing but instinct, a lingering suspicion and his obsessive nature, Grace doggedly pursues the groom’s disappearance and becomes uneasily close to the bride to be…”

Screenwriter Russell Lewis (Inspector Morse, Lewis, Sharpe) commented: “Each story is a fantastic, hair-raising, twisting, switch-back of a roller-coaster ride that grips the reader from first to last, and the opportunity to translate that best-selling magic to television is like all one’s Christmases and birthdays come at once.

“As his millions of fans and admirers are well aware, Peter’s meticulous research and eye for detail is the stuff of legend. His long established, close relationship with the police, taken together with a knowledge of Brighton and the South Coast that is the sole preserve of the born and bred lends his stories an unimpeachable veracity of place and procedure.

“That John Simm will be breathing flesh to the bones of Roy Grace really is the cherry on a dark, and troublingly encrimsoned cake…”

Grace will air on ITV in the UK early next year.

International bestselling crime author Peter James’ Superintendent Roy Grace books have sold over 20 million copies around the world, having been translated in to 37 languages.

The eighth season of Endeavour is expected to begin filming in early 2021.

Endeavour is available to watch on Amazon Prime.