Grace: filming set to start in Brighton on season five of TV detective series

Series five begins filming in and around Brighton at the end of April; and it’s looking like series four, filmed last year, will hit the TV screens in a key autumn scheduling slot later this year.

The first eight books in Peter James’s hugely-acclaimed series of novels have already been seen on television. Series four will take things up to book 12. Series five will take us through to book 16. And the great thing as far as Peter is concerned is that John Simm is returning as Roy Grace, just as Richie Campbell is returning as his best mate Detective Sergeant Glenn Branson.

Filming for the new series will go through until the end of September, with each episode being made successively with a separate writer and a separate director for each. As Peter explains: “The reason for that is that they want to keep each episode looking fresh and feeling different and if you had the same writer and the same director for each then maybe it would soon start to feel a little bit samey.”

It's a formula that works: “I was told recently that we have the highest audience rating of any returning drama series in the UK. It's amazing. I have had previous books that have been adapted and they have all been (rubbish) really. But this is magical and I feel absolutely blessed to have John Simm. You couldn't wish for a more committed or a nicer person and it's absolutely the same with Richie Campbell. You really feel that they are mates and they have really taken ownership of it. And the ITV team are absolutely fabulous and keep me really well communicated. There were aspects in the script for the first episode (in the new series) about the bomb threat at the Amex Stadium (home of Brighton & Hove Albion football club) that I was not happy with. And so we talked about it and they really listened. They changed the script, and that is very rare.

“The battle that I've had with past adaptations is that you get a writer for the adaptation who thinks that they can make it better but when I write a book I spend a year of my life making it as good as it possibly can be. It becomes a number one best-selling book so why should you want to change it. And ITV have really got that. They are great.”

And the return of the key actors will be crucial to that continued success: “If you think that there are seven million people in England who are watching Grace and there are half a million that read the book then that is six and a half million people that are new to Grace. My first big adaptation was my novel Host which was made in America as a big miniseries. It had a really great cast but I thought it was rubbish. It was really terrible. The thing is you can write the book brilliantly but it will be the adaptation that you get judged by.” And Peter is delighted to be judged by Grace – to the extent that he won't get terribly involved in the filming: “I'm much more involved in getting the script right and in the casting. Every single name in the cast is run by me beforehand. But I will do the odd cameo in the series. (My wife) Lara and I have had two or three cameos. I think we will have another at the Amex.”