Looking Good Dead: Volume 2 (Roy Grace)

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When a young woman’s body is found butchered in Brighton, Roy Grace cannot help but think of his own missing wife and her unsolved fate. TV includes Harley and the Davidsons, Eastenders, Mr. Selfridge, Call the Midwife, The Great Outdoors, Waking the Dead, MI High and Moving Wallpaper. The journey of popular contemporary fictional detective flitting from book to TV screen to stage can be a complicated case to follow. Some do it with skill, flair and aplomb ( Inspector Montalbano; Grantchester; Vera; et al), others take the ‘two out of three ain’t bad’ route (the 2016 film version of British writer Paula Hawkins’ edgy 2015 psychological thriller The Girl on the Train was pretty much universally panned, but the 2018 stage adaptation was a theatre-world hit) and several deserved to die a horrible, lonely death (Dan Brown’s 2003 epic mystery thriller The Da Vinci Code, for example, was a huge, highly acclaimed lit-hit, but the 2006 film version tops multiple ‘worst book-to-film adaptation’ charts; watch this space for a forensic examination of the stage version, coming to Theatre Royal Bath early next year). And my point, your honour, is….? A group of friends on a stag night are involved in a road accident and are killed except the groom, a wealthy Brighton property developer who has vanished. Detective Superintendent Grace is called upon by colleague Detective Sergeant Branson to help. The search and investigation uncover lines of inquiry which involve his bride and his best friend and business partner. DEAD SIMPLE, the first in the series, was one to read with the lights on, and LOOKING GOOD DEAD has a selection of very creepy villains. And James is particularly strong in those scenes with Tom’s family where it looks like his on the surface perfect life is collapsing around him.

The series, based on the bestselling novels by novelist Peter James, [2] was adapted by acclaimed screenwriter Russell Lewis, with a pair of films, comprising the novels Dead Simple and Looking Good Dead, filmed in 2020 for broadcast in 2021. [3] Dead Simple, broadcast in March 2021, attracted an estimated 7.2m viewers, which made it the fifth-most-watched programme for the week of 8–14 March, according to BARB. [4]

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Even with the domestic drama prioritised, the compromises imposed by the theatre format allows issues such as the morality of concealing information from the police for fear of reprisals to be raised but not really explored. As a result, the stage version of Looking Good Dead does not completely satisfy as a family drama or as a thriller. To an extent, the play is hamstrung by expectations—fans of the original novel will expect to see detective Roy Grace on stage even though he is reduced to a rather colourless character. Designer Michael Holt’s ingenious set is highly adaptive. A feature wall in a posh ultra-modern residence turns within seconds into a grisly pornographic film set. The first half is slow as we get to know the characters and premise, but after the interval I was completely hooked. The investigation suddenly gets into full swing and you start to put the pieces together. And even though I made some accurate guesses, I did not expect the main twist! A thriller cast LOOKING GOOD DEAD is Peter’s fifth novel to be brought to the stage and follows the hugely successful productions of “The House on Cold Hill” starring Joe McFadden and Rita Simons last year, “Not Dead Enough” starring Shane Richie and Laura Whitmore in 2017, “The Perfect Murder” starring Shane Richie and Jessie Wallace in 2016 and “Dead Simple” starring Tina Hobley in 2015.

Film includes Boxing Day (Boxing Day Productions), Gold (Bollywood feature – Eros International), A Serial Killer’s Guide to Life (Forward Motion Pictures). Elsewhere in the city, when Tom Bryce finds a disc left on a train, he simply tries to do the right thing – return it to its owner. But this attempted act of kindness makes him the sole witness to that same vicious murder. Grace star John Simm wants to adapt all of the Roy Grace books for TV, 24 February 2021". Radio Times . Retrieved 7 March 2021. Online includes Barnes’ People, The Haunting of Alice Bowles (Original Theatre); 15 Heroines (Digital Theatre). Associate Director credits include: An American In Paris (Dominion Theatre); The Judas Kiss (Brooklyn Academy of Music/Ed Mirvish Theatre, Toronto); The Scottsboro Boys (Young Vic).When businesswoman Katya Bishop is brutally murdered, all the evidence points to her businessman husband, Kit ( Arthur Darvill), especially when his girlfriend is also found dead in a similar manner. The only problem being, Kit has a solid alibi for both murders - so how could he possibly be in two places at once? Meanwhile, Grace becomes friendly with new forensic pathologist, Cleo Moray ( Zoe Tapper), but their relationship gets off to a bumpy start when she becomes the latest target of a hitman following every moment of Grace and his team. Could Kit Bishop be connected? And if so, will Grace manage to stop him before he commits any further crimes? Michael has over thirty ballet designs to his credit including The Sleeping Beauty, Quartet and Romeo and Juliet for Northern Ballet; and Madame Butterfly for the Hong Kong Ballet company. TV and film include The Crooked Man, Like Father Like Son, Great West End Theatres, three series of Heartbeat, Doctors and in development, Agent 160 and Oscar’s Boys. Detective Superintendent Roy Grace (played this time by Harry Long) features in another enjoyable romp through the darker side of policing, keeping the audience guessing with its plot twists until the very end in a production which certainly doesn't disappoint.

John Simm to star in adaptation of Peter James' Grace for ITV, 19 December 2021". Radio Times . Retrieved 6 March 2021. In LOOKING GOOD DEAD Grace has a love interest and starts to wonder how he can move his life along again. But you can guarantee, without giving anything away, that it won’t be plain sailing and will leave enough loops open for the next in the series. Opera includes Miranda (Opéra Comique, Paris); Scraww (Trebah Gardens); Vixen (Vaults/International Tour); Carmen: Remastered (ROH/Barbican). Grace is a British television crime drama series, based in the English city of Brighton & Hove, that stars John Simm in the title role of Detective Superintendent Roy Grace, a dogged detective who, haunted by the disappearance of his wife some years previously, solves a variety of cases. [1]

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Looking Good Dead follows his other "dead" novel adaptations - Dead Simple, Not Dead Enough plus The Perfect Murder and The House on Cold Hill. This time, the stars come from the main three soaps - Adam Woodyatt (38 years in EastEnders) and Gaynor Faye (Emmerdale and Coronation Street). I enjoyed the first in Peter James’s series starring troubled Brighton cop Roy Grace, and LOOKING GOOD DEAD is a sharp and punchy sequel. Before writing novels full-time, Peter worked as producer and/or writer on over 25 films as well as creating television shows for Channel 4 and ITV. He admits the low point of his film making career was the comedy, Spanish Fly, starring Terry-Thomas and Leslie Phillips, which he co-wrote and produced and was described by the critic, Barry Norman as, “The least funny British funny film ever made”. His high point was the BAFTA-nominated A Merchant of Venice, starring Al Pacino and Jeremy Irons. Three of his novels, Prophecy, Alchemist and Host have also been filmed for television and ITV television produced the documentary, Babes In The Woods , hosted by Sir Trevor Macdonald ,which was inspired by the non-fiction book of the same title that Peter co-wrote with former Chief Superintendent Graham Bartlett.

Screen credits include The Nurse in Repression (Accento Films), Reporter in Taggart (STV), Sciron in Scottish Bafta Winning Last Commanders (CBBC), Lauren in Yo Diary! (CBBC), ‘stand-in’ Claire in the Series 4 Readthrough for Outlander (Starz), Herself in ‘Prey’ Spoken Word – The Social Presents (BBC Scotland), Woman in Slimfast Commercial, Mother in Scottish Power Commercial. Detective Superintendent Roy Grace has to solve a disturbing murder whilst protecting an innocent eye witness, in this TV tie-in edition of Looking Good Dead, by award winning crime author Peter James. First pictures of Grace filming on location, 16 September 2020". Brighton & Hove News . Retrieved 7 March 2021. There is an attempt to build a mood of gallows humour, although the comment about a pornographer wanting to move upmarket by graduating to ‘snuff’ movies featuring actual murders may not have been intended to sound funny.Whilst still working in the film industry Peter began writing novels, the first of which, Dead Letter Drop, was published in the UK in 1981. he made history when his 11th book, Host, was released on two floppy disks, making it the world’s first electronic novel. There is a copy in the British Science Museum.