John Simm

Galloping inflation, strikes, oversized flares, platform boots, and suffocating heat. It’s almost as if we’re reliving the 1970s. And the perfect TV companion? Look no further than the hugely enjoyable and critically adored sci-fi cop series Life on Mars.  

Sam Tyler (John Simm), a by-the-book, impeccably liberal detective in noughties Manches­ter, is knocked unconscious by a speeding car while listening to David Bowie’s Life on Mars?… and wakes up, dressed in big collar, Chelsea boots and leather jacket, in 1973.  

Grace was shot under stringent coronavirus protocols but you would never know an epidemic was sweeping the nation from watching ITV’s new Sunday-night drama. This was as the broadcaster and the show’s producer intended – and immensely pleasing for its star, John Simm. “No one wants to see anything about Covid. It was the most depressingly boring year and we don’t want to see it on film,” he says.

Simm plays detective superintendent Roy Grace, the eponymous hero of Peter James’s bestselling crime novels.

Based on the first two acclaimed novels by Peter James called Dead Simple and Looking Good Dead, the two films star Jon Simm (Doctor Who) as Roy Grace, the tenacious Brighton based Detective Superintendent.

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.”

Trauma focuses on two fathers Jon Allerton (Adrian Lester) and Dan Bowker (John Simm), whose lives collide when Bowker's teenage son is fatally stabbed, dying in Allerton's trauma unit. 

Bowker blames trauma surgeon Allerton for his son's tragic death and embarks on a desperate hunt for justice he struggles to deal with his loss, with Allerton as his target. 

As Bowker unravels every aspect of Allerton's life, it poses the question: is his grief overpowering his judgment or is there more to Allerton than meets the eye?

John Simm will be returning as The Doctor’s nemesis The Master in the upcoming series of Doctor Who.

The Master was last seen on New Year’s Day 2010 when The Doctor foiled his plans for world domination before sending him back to the Timelords’ home planet of Gallifrey.

John Simm (Mad Dogs, Life on Mars) said, “thanks to the power of time travel I’m back. It’s always a pleasure to work with this great team of people and I can’t wait for you all to see what The Master gets up to in the next series.”