John Simm to star in adaptation of Peter James' Grace for ITV

The Doctor Who star will take on the troubled Detective Superintendent Roy Grace in the series, which is based on the bestselling Roy Grace novels by Peter James.

The series will consist of two episodes and will cover the first two books, Dead Simple and Looking Good Dead, with filming due to begin in Brighton in early 2020.

Novelist Peter James said: “John Simm, who actually looks like the Roy Grace of my imagination, is inspired casting! With John in the lead, the brilliant scripting by Russell Lewis, and our wonderful production team, I’m confident that fans of my novels and of TV crime dramas in general will be in for a treat.”

John Simm is best known for playing The Master in Doctor Who and fellow time traveller Sam Tyler in Life on Mars, and was recently in ITV crime drama Strangers.

Grace will follow Simm's character Roy Grace as he investigates a missing groom-to-be following a stag night prank, while Grace himself is haunted by the disappearance of his own wife, Sandy. Suspecting something more sinister, Grace ends up getting dangerously close to the bride-to-be...

The series will be written by Russell Lewis, who also created (and wrote) Inspector Morse prequel Endeavour.

“I’m thrilled and honoured to be involved in bringing Peter James’ brilliantly gripping series of Roy Grace novels to ITV,” Lewis said.

“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.”

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