ITV commissions a second series of contemporary detective drama, Grace

ITV commissions a second series of contemporary detective drama, Grace

John Simm will return as Brighton-based Detective Superintendent Roy Grace, for a second series of ITV crime drama, Grace.

From acclaimed screenwriter and Endeavour creator, Russell Lewis, Grace is an adaption of international, bestselling author Peter James’ award winning novels.

Co-starring Richie Campbell as DS Glenn Branson and Rakie Ayola as ACC Vosper, the first Grace film Dead Simple which aired on ITV last month achieved consolidated ratings of 8.8m viewers.

The second series of Grace, produced by Second Act Productions, Tall Story Pictures, both part of ITV Studios, and Vaudeville Productions, will comprise four120 minute films; Looking Good Dead, Not Dead Enough, Dead Man’s Footsteps and Dead Tomorrow.

ITV’s Head of Drama Polly Hill commented:

“We are delighted to be adapting more of Peter James’ wonderful novels. John Simm has brilliantly brought the much-loved Detective Superintendent Roy Grace to screen and there are many more cases for the audiences to enjoy. ”

Writer Russell Lewis commented:

“After the overwhelmingly positive audience response to the seaside noir of Dead Simple, (tabloid trauma tales notwithstanding!) and Looking Good Dead cued up ready to go, all at Team Roy Grace are delighted to have been given the opportunity by ITV to return to Brighton (& Hove, actually!) to continue Roy's story with a new series of films based on Peter James best-selling novels.

We’ll be shooting out of our Brighton HQ and all along and around the South Coast from late summer through to very late autumn, so it’s quite possible that like some macabre Radio Fab Roadshow, our caravanserai of coroner’s van, SOCO unit, Mobile Incident Room may well be coming to a street near you!  As the late, great Shaw Taylor used to ask viewers on Police 5... ‘Keep ‘em peeled!’”

Executive producers are Andrew O’Connor and Paul Sandler for Second Act Productions, Patrick Schweitzer for Tall Story Pictures, Michael Vine for Vaudeville Productions, Russell Lewis and Peter James. 

ITV Studios will be responsible for the international distribution of Grace. The new series will be exclusively available on BritBox North America.

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Note to Editors:

Tall Story Pictures, Second Act Productions and Vaudeville Productions, for Grace are adhering to the TV and film production industry wide guidelines published in May and the guidance developed by all UK broadcasters, the Association of Commercial Broadcasters and On-Demand Service (COBA) and Pact covering how pairs and small groups of actors can interact closer than two metres safely on set.  This guidance is also complementary to the British Film Commission guidelines on managing the risks with film and high-end TV drama production.

About Peter James

 Peter James is a UK No. 1 bestselling author, best known for writing crime and thriller novels, and the creator of the much-loved Detective Superintendent Roy Grace. With a total of 16 Sunday Times No. 1s under his belt, he has achieved global book sales of over 20 million copies to date, and has been translated into 37 languages.

Synonymous with plot-twisting page-turners, Peter has garnered an army of loyal fans throughout his storytelling career – which also included stints writing for TV and producing films. He has won over 40 awards for his work, including the WHSmith Best Crime Author of All Time Award, Crime Writers’ Association Diamond Dagger and a BAFTA nomination for The Merchant of Venice starring Al Pacino and Jeremy Irons for which he was an executive producer. Many of Peter’s novels have been adapted for film, TV and stage.

Peter James’ latest novel Left You Dead is published by Pan Macmillan on 13th May.

About Tall Story Pictures

Founded in 2016, Tall Story Pictures, part of ITV Studios, produces television drama for UK and international broadcasters, working with the very best established and emerging writing talent.

Their aim is simple: To place the writer’s vision at the heart of everything we develop and produce, and to engage and entertain audiences with exceptional storytelling.

About Second Act Productions

Second Act Productions was created in 2015 by Andrew O’Connor and Paul Sandler to focus primarily on scripted comedy and entertainment commissions.  Grace is the company’s first scripted drama commission for ITV.

About Vaudeville Productions

Founded in 2014 by Derren Brown and Michael Vine, Vaudeville Productions is behind Derren’s TV specials and live tours, it also produces other stage shows as well as scripted drama and 'event' television.