Alibi

UKTV releases first look images of Alibi original drama I, Jack Wright

Nikki Amuka-Bird and Eden Hollingsworth stand in a church in funeral attire, unsmiling

The suicide of successful businessman Jack Wright sends his already-fractured family into a tailspin. As if grieving wasn’t difficult enough, his third wife Sally and two sons are left reeling by the discovery that they have been largely left out of the will.

The police investigate Wright’s death, and begin to suspect foul play. When difficult questions emerge about members of the Wright family, decades’ worth of feuds and resentments bubble up to the surface.

Wonka and Bridgerton stars among cast for UKTV’s murder mystery I, Jack Wright

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.

Stars from Bridgerton, Bodyguard and Showtrial in first look images for The Red King

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.

UKTV acquires The Silence of the Lambs spin-off series

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.

A new crime drama era for Alibi

We Hunt Together (Credit: UKTV)

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.

Lucy Hale joined by Henry Lloyd-Hughes and Thalissa Teixeira for new thriller Ragdoll

Henry Lloyd-Hughes, Thalissa Teixeira and Lucy Hale (credit: UKTV)

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.

Traces set to return for a second series

Credit: UKTV

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.