Brand new ITV crime drama, GRACE, based on Peter James’s Roy Grace series, was launched in the prime-time Sunday slot in March, to widespread praise from the critics and 7.3 million-strong viewing figures.
The stellar first outing for GRACE, starring acclaimed actor John Simm as tenacious detective Roy Grace, Richie Campbell as Glenn Branson and Rakie Ayola as Alison Vosper, is adapted from DEAD SIMPLE – the nail-biting million-selling first novel in the series which has delivered 17 consecutive Sunday Times Number Ones for Peter James and his publisher Pan Macmillan.
The show is now set to cross the Atlantic, with joint ITV and BBC Studios streaming service Britbox adding GRACE to its slate of originals in North America. The series will land on the service in the US and Canada on 27 April.
Before its transmission, GRACE was featured in many ‘2021 One to Watch’ lists, including The Mirror, The Telegraph, The Sunday Express, Radio Times, BBC and The Sunday Times. GRACE was also Pick of the Day in the Observer, Guardian Guide, Daily Star on Sunday, Daily Mail Weekend and Daily Star Hot TV, as well as a TV Must in Woman’s Own.
The series is written by much-in-demand screenwriter and ENDEAVOUR creator, Russell Lewis, and co-produced by Second Act Productions, Tall Story Pictures and Vaudeville Productions.
You can catch up on the episode on the ITV Hub here.
In the first thrilling episode based on Peter James’s first Roy Grace bestseller DEAD SIMPLE, Detective Superintendent 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; a stag night prank appears to go wrong and the groom is missing… But 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…
The second title LOOKING GOOD DEAD is already filmed and broadcast dates will be announced in due course. TV tie-in editions of both DEAD SIMPLE and LOOKING GOOD DEAD are available.
Praise for GRACE
‘A twisty race against time… John Simm is one of those actors who makes you think: what must that be like? What must it be like to be so good at the thing you do that, when you come along, everyone just relaxes? To be so good that everyone knows they are in safe hands, knows they are going to be shown something great, knows they won’t have to mess about trying to make a little look like a lot. For viewers, he turns up and you just … believe him… And here he is again, doing his quiet, unfunky, wholly credible thing, in GRACE (ITV)... The plot becomes rapidly and pleasingly complicated without losing any sense of narrative... An adaptation of the second book in the series, LOOKING GOOD DEAD, is due later in the year. I have looked into my crystal ball, consulted with the spirits and say we should all look forward to the day.' – Lucy Mangan, The Guardian
‘A very effective appetite-whetter… The unpretentious storytelling makes this an easy watch, helmed by the always watchable Simm.’ – The Mail on Sunday, Pick of the Day
‘It’s a good’un... John Simm was pleasingly understated as Detective Superintendent Roy Grace and the adaptation was well done by Russell Lewis, creator of ENDEAVOUR. Richie Campbell was great as Roy’s colleague, DS Branson, bringing just the right amount of energy to proceedings... If ITV can find room in the schedules, another Grace instalment would go down nicely.’ – Anita Singh, The Telegraph
‘Roy Grace doesn’t have any obvious gimmick to mark him out, but he swiftly establishes himself as a solid addition to the Sunday-night pack… Chilling.’ – James Jackson, The Times, Critic’s Choice
‘Grace and Branson’s race to find Michael made for truly nail-biting TV and there were great performances, with Simm as watchable as ever as the shrewd, yet vulnerable Grace… With more to come later this year… I’ll certainly be tuning in.’ – Gwendolyn Smith, The i
‘Simm is excellent as the melancholic copper and should get his wish to play the role for years to come.’ – Joe Clay, The Times, Critic’s Choice
‘There is a reason why Peter James’s novels have sold all over the world, and one of the main ones is that… Detective Superintendent Roy Grace is a well-written and believable character… Simm makes for a likeable lead and the atmospheric Brighton setting is well used.’ – Sarah Hughes, The Sunday Telegraph, The Very Best of the Week Ahead
‘The intricate, twist-laden plot, atmospheric south-coast location and impressive performances mean that GRACE is likely to be a hit with fans of the books and newcomers alike.’ – The Sun, Pick of the Day
‘It’s so, so good. I nearly missed my train stop!... This is something else I really love about these books, that they’re all set in and around Brighton and Sussex. And I have to say the team have made it look absolutely beautiful – it looks amazing … and they’re such great stories, brilliant whodunnits… I was hooked!’ – Zoe Ball, The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show, BBC Radio 2, interviewing John Simm who plays Roy Grace in GRACE on ITV
‘Simm gives [Roy Grace] a winning sense of humour beneath all the grit… Campbell is smooth foil, playing Branson quietly enough that Simm doesn’t have to be enormous to stand out. Brighton’s mix of pretty shoreline, faded glamour, criminal past and contemporary hipsterism makes it a ripe spot for some murder. The action feels rooted in its setting…It’s almost inconceivable Simm hasn’t already been in a long running franchise… and I expect the wait’s over.’ – Ed Cumming, The Independent
‘Few people do moody, angst-ridden men better than John Simm, who takes on the role of Grace. With so many books in hand, this series could run and run.’ — The best television shows in the UK this April, Prospect Magazine
GRACE was filmed on location in Brighton in 2020 with executive producers Andrew O’Connor and Paul Sandler for Second Act Productions, Patrick Schweitzer for Tall Story Pictures, Michael Vine for Vaudeville Productions, and Russell Lewis and Peter James. The first film, DEAD SIMPLE, is directed by John Alexander with the second film, LOOKING GOOD DEAD (based on the second book in the series of the same name), directed by Julia Ford.
The seventeenth instalment in the Roy Grace book series, LEFT YOU DEAD, is published in the UK by Pan Macmillan on 13 May 2021. Peter James has also written a Roy Grace novella, WISH YOU WERE DEAD, for The Reading Agency’s QuickReads scheme, to be published on 27 May 2021. The paperback of the standalone thriller I FOLLOW YOU will be out on 24 June 2021.
A bumper year for Peter James fans!
About Peter James
Peter James is the international bestselling author of many award-winning novels, translated into thirty-seven languages with worldwide sales of over twenty million copies. His Brighton-set Detective Superintendent Roy Grace series has given him seventeen consecutive Sunday Times Number Ones. In 2015 WH Smith customers voted him the Greatest Crime Author of All Time and in 2016 he was awarded the coveted CWA Diamond Dagger, a lifetime achievement award for sustained excellence. In 2018 he received a Specsavers Honorary Platinum Bestseller Award.
In addition to his career as a novelist, he has produced several films, including The Merchant of Venice, starring Al Pacino, Jeremy Irons and Joseph Fiennes. He also co-created the hit Channel 4 series Bedsitcom, which was nominated for a Rose d'Or.
Successful nationwide tours of the stage plays of THE PERFECT MURDER (2014) and DEAD SIMPLE (2015) have packed theatres in dozens of British cities, and garnered magnificent reviews and NOT DEAD ENOUGH opened to full houses and acclaim in 2017. January 2019 saw the opening of the stage tour of THE HOUSE ON COLD HILL, with the sequel THE SECRET OF COLD HILL published in October 2019. The stage play of LOOKING GOOD DEAD will tour the UK later in 2021, starring award-winning actor and EastEnders icon, Adam Woodyatt.
Praise for Peter James
‘Superior plotting and edge-of-the-seat suspense.’ – The Guardian
‘Peter James is one of the best crime writers in the business’ – Karin Slaughter
‘A master plotter who cunningly tunes into contemporary concerns. Peter James cannot fail to thrill.’ – Daily Mail
‘Peter James creates a world we can smell, touch and feel for his Brighton detective Inspector Roy Grace.’ – The Times
‘Probably the closest we’ll get to a British Stephen King’ – The Financial Times
‘With echoes of Thomas Harris, the closer analogue is to Jeffrey Deaver’s clock-racing thrillers. … James delivers the goods.’ — Kirkus Reviews
‘James just gets better and better and deserves the success he has achieved with this first-class series.’ — Independent on Sunday
