Production is officially underway for the BBC/HBO's sixth outing of the Strike crime series and the adaptation of The Ink Black Heart. Based on J.K. Rowling’s best-selling crime novels written under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, the next season comes after its predecessor (Troubled Blood) was one of the UK's most watched dramas, with the most recent instalment – averaging 8.4 million viewers across its run in 2022 (28-day figures).
Tom Burke (Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, The Souvenir) and Holliday Grainger (The Capture, Animals) reprise their roles as detective Cormoran Strike and his investigative partner Robin Ellacott for the four-episode season scripted by Tom Edge and directed by Sue Tully.
When frantic, dishevelled Edie Ledwell appears in the office begging to speak to her, private detective Robin Ellacott doesn't know quite what to make of the situation. The co-creator of a popular cartoon, The Ink Black Heart, Edie is being persecuted by a mysterious online figure who goes by the pseudonym of Anomie. Edie is desperate to uncover Anomie's true identity.
Robin decides that the agency can't help with this - and thinks nothing more of it until a few days later, when she reads the shocking news that Edie has been tasered and then murdered in Highgate Cemetery, the location of The Ink Black Heart.
Robin and her business partner Cormoran Strike become drawn into the quest to uncover Anomie's true identity. But with a complex web of online aliases, business interests and family conflicts to navigate, Strike and Robin find themselves embroiled in a case that stretches them to their limit.
The previous seasons of Strike have seen Burke and Grainger joined by a cast of acclaimed British actors, including David Westhead (Enola Holmes 2, Bodyguard), Christian McKay (Rivals, Dangerous Liaisons), Emma Fielding (Sanditon, Van der Valk), Tupele Dorgu (The Full Monty, Ridley) and James Nelson-Joyce (Time, Industry) amongst others.
Alongside the two leads, Ruth Sheen (Unforgotten, It’s A Sin) will return as Pat, Strike’s office manager, alongside fellow returning cast members Jack Greenlees (The Trial of Cristine Keeler, Payback) as Sam Barclay, Natasha O’Keeffe (Peaky Blinders, The Wheel of Time) as Charlotte and Caitlin Innes Edwards (Hanna, Black Mirror: Smithereens) as Ilsa.
With new characters set to join this season, The Strike and Ellacott Files confirmed four new castings that are set to bring the Ink Black Heart's characters to life. Elóise Thomas (ITV's The Bay) will be playing Lia, Ewan Bailey (BBC One's Doctors) will be playing Nils de Jong, Jonny Magnanti will be playing "Dad" in one episode (this could either be a recast for Michael Ellacott, Robin's father or a new character), Dan Cade will be playing a currently unnamed role (some fans have speculated Ryan Murphy, Robin's future love interest) and Kitty Reed, a 2023 graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, will be playing the role of Yasmin Weatherhead. More casting news on the rest of this season's cast is still to be confirmed.
Behind the scenes, Jenny van der Lande (Too Close, You Don’t Know Me) is the story producer and Alex Rendell returns as producer. Executive producers are J.K. Rowling (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Strike, The Casual Vacancy), Neil Blair (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Strike, The Casual Vacancy) and Ruth Kenley-Letts (Too Close, Strike, You Don’t Know Me) alongside Nick Lambon for the BBC.
Cormoran Strike is one of the most popular detectives in crime fiction today and JK Rowling as Robert Galbraith is among the genre’s most celebrated writers, shortlisted for the prestigious CWA Gold Dagger in 2015 and the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year in 2016. The Cuckoo’s Calling was published to critical acclaim in 2013 and became a global bestseller, followed in 2014 by The Silkworm, Career of Evil in 2015, Lethal White in 2018 and Troubled Blood in 2020. The Ink Black Heart was published in August 2022 and the most recent novel, The Running Grave, was published in September 2023.
All seven Strike novels topped the national and international bestseller lists, and the series has sold more than 20 million copies worldwide across all editions in total. Troubled Blood won the 2021 British Book Award for Book of the Year: Crime and Fiction. The books are published in more than 50 countries across the globe and to date have been translated into 43 languages.
The previous five series of Strike are available to stream on BBC iPlayer. The Strike and Ellacott Files Podcast is also available to stream and listen to on Spotify.
The Pearl by John Steinbeck
‘The Pearl’ is a well-known by under-read classic and, as a teacher, many of my students have absolutely loved it. Not just because it is short, but because it presents a storyline that is interesting and corrupting. Easy to read and easier to analyse, ‘The Pearl’ is one of Steinbeck’s hardest hitting classics with an underlying message about protecting what is actually important. By the end of the book, the reader is left defeated and believing in the wrong thing. The idealism around this book is incredible and it is so dark too. For a long while you are supporting the wrong people, thinking in the wrong way and the whole story becomes one long act of misdirection by Steinbeck to show in a ‘Monkey’s Paw’ fashion why we should never chase wealth and status.
By Annie Kapurabout a month ago in Geeks
Comments (1)
I've read all these more than once each, but I haven't got stuck into the TV series yet. Maybe I should 😁 I think casting is generally tip top for anything adapted from something JKR wrote. I think that's probably her influence, rather than coincidence 😁