Strike — The Ink Black Heart starring Tom Burke and Holliday Grainger is the sixth story based on J.K. Rowling's best-selling crime novels written under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. And we now know it will begin on BBC One on December 16 and we have some new pictures.
Burke (Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, The Souvenir) leads the cast as Cormoran Strike with Grainger (The Capture, Animals) as Robin Ellacott.
The four-part series sees the pair investigate the murder of the co-creator of a popular cartoon, The Ink Black Heart. The previous series, Trouble Blood, picked up over eight million viewers when it was shown and the BBC will be hoping for the same impressive figures when Strike — The Ink Black Heart is screened.
Here's everything we know...
Strike — The Ink Black Heart release date
Strike — The Ink Black Heart will begin on BBC One on Monday, December 16 at 9 pm. The second episode will air on Tuesday, December 17 at 9 pm. Episodes run for 60 minutes. The BBC has officially made the series part of its Christmas line-up. We have a Christmas TV Guide with all the big shows coming your way over the festive season.
We don't have a US release date yet.
What's the plot?
The makers tease: "When frantic, disheveled Edie Ledwell appears in the office begging to speak to her, private detective Robin Ellacott doesn't know quite what to make of the situation. The co-creator of a popular cartoon, The Ink Black Heart, Edie is being persecuted by a mysterious online figure who goes by the pseudonym of Anomie. Edie is desperate to uncover Anomie's true identity.
"Robin decides that the agency can't help with this — and thinks nothing more of it until a few days later, when she reads the shocking news that Edie has been tasered and then murdered in Highgate Cemetery, the location of The Ink Black Heart.
"Robin and her business partner Cormoran Strike become drawn into the quest to uncover Anomie's true identity. But with a complex web of online aliases, business interests and family conflicts to navigate, Strike and Robin find themselves embroiled in a case that stretches them to their limit."
Strike — The Ink Black Heart cast
Tom Burke and Holliday Grainger return. Ruth Sheen (Unforgotten, It’s A Sin) returns as Pat, Strike’s office manager, alongside fellow returning cast members Jack Greenlees (The Trial of Cristine Keeler, Payback) as Sam Barclay, Natasha O’Keeffe (Peaky Blinders, The Wheel of Time) as Charlotte, and Caitlin Innes Edwards (Hanna, Black Mirror: Smithereens) as Ilsa.
David Westhead (Enola Holmes 2, Bodyguard), Christian McKay (Rivals, Dangerous Liaisons), Emma Fielding (Sanditon, Van der Valk), Tupele Dorgu (The Full Monty, Ridley) and James Nelson-Joyce (Time, Industry) all feature in the new series.
Is there a trailer?
No, not yet.
Behind the scenes and more
Sue Tully, who EastEnders fans will remember as Michelle Fowler, returns to direct. It’s the third time she’s worked on Strike. It is adapted by writer Tom Edge (Vigil, You Don’t Know Me) who also adapted previous Strike installments Troubled Blood, The Silkworm, Career of Evil and Lethal White.
Jenny van der Lande (Too Close, You Don’t Know Me) is story producer and Alex Rendell returns as producer. Executive producers are J.K. Rowling (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Strike, The Casual Vacancy), Neil Blair (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Strike, The Casual Vacancy) and Ruth Kenley-Letts (Too Close, Strike, You Don’t Know Me) alongside Nick Lambon for the BBC.
