John Simm has been cast in new ITV drama \'Grace\'.
The 49-year-old actor will take on the lead role of hard-working detective Roy Grace in two two-hour episodes, which will adapt the first two stories in Peter James\' Grace series of books, \'Dead Simple\' and \'Looking Good Dead\', for the small screen.
\'Endeavour\' creator Russell Lewis has adapted two of bestseller Peter\'s novels for the ITV series.
Executive producers Andrew O\'Connor and Paul Sandler said: "We\'re absolutely delighted to be working with Russell Lewis and Peter James, two of the greatest writers around and to have the chance to bring Grace alive on screen.
"Like so many other readers, we\'ve been fans of the Grace books since they first appeared, so this is a fantastically exciting project for us."
\'Grace\' will begin filming in Brighton during the early months of 2020.
The drama will open with Grace\'s career at rock bottom, and he is fixated with the disappearance of his wife Sandy.
He is running enquiries into long-forgotten cold cases which have little prospect of success, and he risks being moved from the job he loves.
But his colleague Detective Sergeant Glenn Branson puts faith in him and asks Grace to help him on a case in which a groom-to-be has gone missing following a stag do prank.
While there is no trace of the groom, Grace realises there could be a lot more to it than a prank gone wrong.
Exec producer Patrick Schweitzer added: "We\'re thrilled to be involved in bringing these wonderful novels to the screen, with DSI Roy Grace being played by the marvellous John Simm we couldn\'t wish for anyone more perfect to bring this role to life."
