Grace - how John Simm is conquering the TV screen as Peter James' Brighton detective Roy Grace

The second episode of the series – a series which began filming in Brighton in autumn 2020 amid the strictest Covid controls – went out on Sunday night to wide acclaim, with the promise of more to follow.

It was just over a year ago John Simm made his debut in the role on screen.

Sunday’s episode was Grace: Looking Good Dead, also the second in the Grace book series.

Detective Superintendent Roy Grace suspects the sudden death of a former schoolteacher found in suspicious circumstances in a respectable Brighton backwater may not be the drugs overdose it first appears and when human remains are discovered in a Sussex field, Grace and Branson are drawn into an investigation that will test their abilities and their friendship to breaking point.

Though each case initially appears to be an isolated incident, Grace’s instinct leads him to believe both deaths are the work of a twisted, sadistic serial killer who leaves a bizarre calling card at the scene of each crime. However, with his professional stock still low and his credibility in question, Grace's hardest job might be convincing the ’Upstairs’ that there is a predator who is hunting victims along the South Coast.

Meanwhile, in Hove, a local businessman finds a pen drive left behind by a passenger on his evening commuter train home. Proving that no good deed goes unpunished, in seeking to return the memory stick to its unknown owner, he opens Pandora’s Box, unleashing an evil that will reach out to imperil all he holds dear, as he, his wife and family become unwittingly connected to Grace’s investigation.

With Grace already having to contend with Assistant Chief Constable Alison Vosper urging him to leave his Brighton hometown to take up post in a neighbouring Constabulary, hardly a ringing endorsement of his professional standing, he and the team must race against time to put the pieces together and catch their killer before further innocent lives fall victim to the murderer’s bloodlust.

Cast

DS Roy Grace JOHN SIMM

DS Glen Branson RICHIE CAMPBELL

ACC Alison Vosper RAKIE AYOLA

Harry Frame ADRIAN RAWLINS

DS Bella Moy LAURA ELPHINSTONE

DC Nick Nicholl BRAD MORRISON

DC Emma Jane Boutwood AMAKA OKAFOR

DS Norman Potting CRAIG PARKINSON

Sophie Bryce CHRISTINA CHONG

Zack Bryce AMIT SHAH

Andy Gilney JAMES TARPEY