Looking Good Dead: Volume 2 (Roy Grace)

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The Bryce family are having problems. Father Tom (Adam Woodyatt) has over-extended his business to the point of bankruptcy. Stress pushes wife Kellie (Gaynor Faye) into compulsively drinking / cleaning / spending (sometimes at the same time). Teenage son Max (Luke Ward-Wilkinson) plots to emulate his alienated half-brother and escape the family home as soon as possible and, in the meantime, has sneakily accessed his mother’s online bank account without her knowledge. In May 2021, Grace was commissioned for a second series. Filming began in September 2021 in the West Sussex town of Burgess Hill. The second series adapts the next three novels in the Grace series, Not Dead Enough, Dead Man's Footsteps and Dead Tomorrow. Broadcasting of the second series commenced in the UK on 24 April 2022, with Looking Good Dead as the opening episode. [13] Michael has over thirty ballet designs to his credit including The Sleeping Beauty, Quartet and Romeo and Juliet for Northern Ballet; and Madame Butterfly for the Hong Kong Ballet company.

Before writing novels full-time, Peter worked as producer and/or writer on over 25 films as well as creating television shows for Channel 4 and ITV. He admits the low point of his film making career was the comedy, Spanish Fly, starring Terry-Thomas and Leslie Phillips, which he co-wrote and produced and was described by the critic, Barry Norman as, “The least funny British funny film ever made”. His high point was the BAFTA-nominated A Merchant of Venice, starring Al Pacino and Jeremy Irons. Three of his novels, Prophecy, Alchemist and Host have also been filmed for television and ITV television produced the documentary, Babes In The Woods , hosted by Sir Trevor Macdonald ,which was inspired by the non-fiction book of the same title that Peter co-wrote with former Chief Superintendent Graham Bartlett.TV and film include The Crooked Man, Like Father Like Son, Great West End Theatres, three series of Heartbeat, Doctors and in development, Agent 160 and Oscar’s Boys.

The series, based on the bestselling novels by novelist Peter James, [2] was adapted by acclaimed screenwriter Russell Lewis, with a pair of films, comprising the novels Dead Simple and Looking Good Dead, filmed in 2020 for broadcast in 2021. [3] Dead Simple, broadcast in March 2021, attracted an estimated 7.2m viewers, which made it the fifth-most-watched programme for the week of 8–14 March, according to BARB. [4]

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Roy Grace (Harry Long) was as tall and calm as I imagined with a strong sense of authority. His colleague and best mate Glenn Branson (Leon Stewart) brought the humour we love him for but maybe I was expecting more energetic charm. And Bella Moy (Gemma Stroyan) balanced the hard kindness with ease. Detective Superintendent Roy Grace has to solve a disturbing murder whilst protecting an innocent eye witness, in this TV tie-in edition of Looking Good Dead, by award winning crime author Peter James. A chilling event at the Royal Edward Hotel on the night of ACC Vosper's leaving party forces Grace into a difficult position. When a young woman’s body is found butchered in Brighton, Roy Grace cannot help but think of his own missing wife and her unsolved fate.

Opera includes Miranda (Opéra Comique, Paris); Scraww (Trebah Gardens); Vixen (Vaults/International Tour); Carmen: Remastered (ROH/Barbican). Adam Woodyatt is the longest serving cast member in “EastEnders” having appeared continuously as Ian Beale since the show began in 1985. For his portrayal of the role he was honoured in 2013 with the Lifetime Achievement Award and in 2015 after the “EastEnders” 30th Anniversary Live episode, Best Actor at the British Soap Awards. “Looking Good Dead” marks Adam’s return to stage in a play for the first time since 1982 as a 13-year-old at the National Theatre in Tom Stoppard’s “On The Razzle”. In addition to “EastEnders” Adam has also appeared on many TV programmes including “Robot Wars”, “Dream House”, “A Question of Sport”, presented “The National Lottery” draw live and last year was a contestant on “Celebrity Masterchef”. He has also previously appeared in the pantomimes “Peter Pan”, “Snow White”, “Aladdin”, “Mother Goose” and “Cinderella”. John Simm: from Life on Mars to death in Brighton, 6 March 2021". The Times . Retrieved 7 March 2021. Peter pursues many interests in his relaxation time, including his extensive charity work. A self-confessed “petrol head”, Peter races classic cars at circuits around the country and has been a regular at the Goodwood Revival for several years. His enthusiasm remains undimmed after a surviving a horrendous high speed crash at Brands Hatch in 2013, although his publishers and his fans might prefer he took up a somewhat safer past-time – bowls, perhaps?In LOOKING GOOD DEAD Grace has a love interest and starts to wonder how he can move his life along again. But you can guarantee, without giving anything away, that it won’t be plain sailing and will leave enough loops open for the next in the series.

Online includes Barnes’ People, The Haunting of Alice Bowles (Original Theatre); 15 Heroines (Digital Theatre). The journey of popular contemporary fictional detective flitting from book to TV screen to stage can be a complicated case to follow. Some do it with skill, flair and aplomb ( Inspector Montalbano; Grantchester; Vera; et al), others take the ‘two out of three ain’t bad’ route (the 2016 film version of British writer Paula Hawkins’ edgy 2015 psychological thriller The Girl on the Train was pretty much universally panned, but the 2018 stage adaptation was a theatre-world hit) and several deserved to die a horrible, lonely death (Dan Brown’s 2003 epic mystery thriller The Da Vinci Code, for example, was a huge, highly acclaimed lit-hit, but the 2006 film version tops multiple ‘worst book-to-film adaptation’ charts; watch this space for a forensic examination of the stage version, coming to Theatre Royal Bath early next year). And my point, your honour, is….?When businesswoman Katya Bishop is brutally murdered, all the evidence points to her businessman husband, Kit ( Arthur Darvill), especially when his girlfriend is also found dead in a similar manner. The only problem being, Kit has a solid alibi for both murders - so how could he possibly be in two places at once? Meanwhile, Grace becomes friendly with new forensic pathologist, Cleo Moray ( Zoe Tapper), but their relationship gets off to a bumpy start when she becomes the latest target of a hitman following every moment of Grace and his team. Could Kit Bishop be connected? And if so, will Grace manage to stop him before he commits any further crimes? The first half is slow as we get to know the characters and premise, but after the interval I was completely hooked. The investigation suddenly gets into full swing and you start to put the pieces together. And even though I made some accurate guesses, I did not expect the main twist! A thriller cast John Simm on his new ITV detective drama, Grace: 'Nobody wants to see Covid on film', 11 March 2021". iNews . Retrieved 12 March 2021. Overall, Looking Good Dead feels a little more lighthearted than I’m guessing James intended it to be, and a bit more school-play than you’d want from a serious thriller. When the serious thrills within the tale are allowed to come to the fore, they look good indeed; elsewhere, though, the production tends to overdo the Scooby-Doo in terms of inspiration for breathing theatrical life into this menacing drama. Even with the domestic drama prioritised, the compromises imposed by the theatre format allows issues such as the morality of concealing information from the police for fear of reprisals to be raised but not really explored. As a result, the stage version of Looking Good Dead does not completely satisfy as a family drama or as a thriller. To an extent, the play is hamstrung by expectations—fans of the original novel will expect to see detective Roy Grace on stage even though he is reduced to a rather colourless character.