Dark Heart (TV series)

Dark Heart
Genre	Crime drama
Written by	Chris Lang
Directed by	Colin Teague
Starring	Tom Riley Kobna Holdbrook-Smith Tom Brooke Anjli Mohindra Charlotte Riley Miranda Raison Christopher Fulford
Composer	Dan Jones
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	1
No. of episodes	1 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Kate Bartlett Michael Dawson
Producer	Chris Clough
Cinematography	Sam McCurdy
Editor	Phil Hookway
Running time	100 minutes (2016) 45 minutes (2018—)
Production company	Silverprint Pictures
Original release
Network	ITV Encore, ITV
Release	9 November 2016 (2016-11-09) – present

Dark Heart is a British television crime drama series, based on the Will Wagstaffe novels by writer Adam Creed, that first broadcast on 9 November 2016. The series stars Tom Riley as DI Will Wagstaffe, a police detective haunted by the unsolved double murder of his parents when he was just sixteen years old. The series co-stars Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, Tom Brooke, Anjli Mohindra, Charlotte Riley and Miranda Raison. A single feature-length pilot, based on the novel Suffer the Children, was written by Chris Lang and directed by Colin Teague. It first broadcast on ITV Encore on 9 November 2016.

Following strong audience reception, a series of six hour-long episodes was commissioned in December 2017, with filming set to begin in Spring 2018. Lang will provide scripts for four of the episodes, alongside Ben Harris, who will provide scripts for the remaining two. Teague will return as director. Due to the impending closure of ITV Encore in March 2018, the series will transmit on the main ITV network, alongside a number of other projects originally set for broadcast on Encore.

Cast

• Tom Riley as DI Will Wagstaffe; a troubled police detective
• Kobna Holdbrook-Smith as DS Dave Pulford; a fellow detective on Wagstaffe's squad
• Tom Brooke as DS Rick Johnson; a fellow detective on Wagstaffe's squad
• Anjli Mohindra as DC Josie Chancellor; a junior detective on Wagstaffe's squad
• Charlotte Riley as Juliet Wagstaffe; Will's older sister
• Edward Akrout as Paulo; Juliet's fiancé
• Miranda Raison as Sylvie; Will's on-off girlfriend
• Joseph Teague as Harry Wagstaffe; Will's seven-year-old nephew
• Christopher Fulford as Bob Jessop; former Detective Inspector

Episodes

Pilot (2016)

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	British air date	UK viewers (million)
1	"Suffer the Children"	Colin Teague	Chris Lang	9 November 2016 (2016-11-09)	0.129
Ray Collins (Mark Fleischmann), a man in his mid thirties, is found tied to his own bed, choked and severely mutilated. As DI Will Wagstaffe (Tom Riley) and his team investigate further, they learn Collins was arrested two and a half years ago on suspicion of sexual assault of his own daughters, Holly and Jasmine, who were just nine and eleven at the time. Although he was remanded in custody for three weeks, there wasn’t sufficient evidence and he was later released from custody. As Will and his team delve deeper, they speak to Collins’ ex-wife, Debbie (Simone Kirby). She admits she is relieved to hear of his death; grateful that no other child will go through what hers did. Soon after Collins’ death, a lawyer, Guy Dawlish (Nicholas Asbury), is brutally attacked. The style of attack is similar to the way in which Collins was killed – he was tied to his bed using knots that are exactly the same as the ones used to restrain Collins. However, the similarity doesn’t end there. Dawlish was arrested two years ago following allegations of child sex abuse. There was insufficient evidence so he wasn’t charged. With two unconvicted paedophiles attacked within days of each other, Will fears this could be just the start.

External links

• Dark Heart at IMDb