ITV’s new true-crime drama, The Pembrokeshire Murders, recounts the solving of one of Wales’ most notorious crimes.
Luke Evans stars as newly promoted Detective Superintendent Steve Wilkins, responsible for reopening the unsolved Coastal Path Murders of the 1980s in 2006.
The family drama follows the Wright family, who are thrown into disarray after learning of their family patriarch and business tycoon Jack Wright’s (Trevor Eve, Waking the Dead) untimely suicide. When his last will and testament is revealed, Nikki Amuka-Bird enters the narrative as Jack’s third-wife Sally, alongside his two sons Gray (Simm) and John (Rigby). All three of them have been largely cut-out of the will and won’t be receiving much of Jack’s enormous fortune.
The six-part series stars Anjli Mohindra (Bodyguard) as Grace Narayan, a once successful police sergeant who has been forced into a “punishment post” on an obscure and sequestered island. When Narayan begins investigating the unsolved case of a missing teenager, what at first glance appears as a gritty police thriller, drifts into folk horror upon the unearthing of a bygone cult called True Way. Narayan comes to realise the cult, and its dedication to pagan god the ‘Red King’, are not as confined to the island’s past as it first appears.
Joe Lycett takes his first steps in his walking boots for the new series of Travel Man, replacing Richard Ayoade after nine series.
For his first outing, Lycett will explore the sights of Iceland with comedian Bill Bailey.
A spin-off from Thomas Harris’ 1988 novel The Silence of the Lambs and its 1991 film adaptation, the thirteen-part series picks up a year after the events of the original.
Rebecca Breeds (Pretty Little Liars) stars as FBI Agent Clarice Starling, who returns to the force in 1993 but is still dealing with the fallout and trauma of the Buffalo Bill case.
She is undergoing therapy but remains as brilliant and brave a detective as ever, which draws monsters and madmen to her.
There’s a firm logic in the recent push to serve up more original drama by the likes of Channel 5 (Boleyn, The Drowning) and BritBox (The Beast Must Die, Crime). For viewers, a gripping drama is a calling card that helps define a channel in an increasingly crowded market.
Within the industry, it is a stake in the ground, a display of creativity and clout. So, it is fascinating to see that the pay-TV crime channel Alibi, owned by UKTV, has thrown its towel in the ring, and shown its full commitment with a succession of new shows in the second half of 2021.
Henry Lloyd-Hughes (Killing Eve) and Thalissa Teixeira (Trigonometry) will join Lucy Hale (Pretty Little Liars) in the modern-day Faustian thriller following a trio of detectives attempting to solve a series of horrific murders.
Lloyd-Hughes stars as the newly reinstated DS Nathan Rose, with Teixeira playing his boss and best friend, DI Emily Baxter. Hale will play the unit’s newest recruit, DC Lake Edmunds.
The second series will see the return of Molly Windsor as Emma Hedges, Martin Compston as Daniel Macafee. Laura Fraser as professor Sarah Gordon, Jennifer Spence as professor Kathy Torrance and Michael Nardone as DCI Neil McKinven.
Based on an idea by crime writer Val McDermid, Traces allows forensic science to take centre stage, set in Scotland at the Scottish Institute of Forensic Science.
In 2020, UKTV’s network share grew by 3.2% to achieve 4.63%, reaching over 18 million viewers a week, and grew its SOCI by 4%.
UKTV Play increased direct-to-consumer views by 42%, with shows such as Red Dwarf: The Promised Land, The Bill: The Early Years, Meet The Richardsons, EastEnders and Hypothetical topping the VOD service.
