Martin Compston, Laura Fraser, Molly Windsor & Jennifer Spence To Star In UKTV Crime Drama ‘Traces’
Line of Duty’s Martin Compston, Breaking Bad’s Laura Fraser, Cheat’s Molly Windsor and Travelers’ Jennifer Spence are to star in UKTV’s crime drama Traces.
The quartet will front the six-part series, which is written by Scott & Bailey and This Life writer Amelia Bullmore and based on an original idea from crime writer Val McDermid, whose Hill/Jordan books were turned into hit crime drama Wire in the Blood.
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It marks the first original commission for UKTV’s Alibi and is produced by Happy Valley and Safe producer Red Production Company.
Laurie Brett (EastEnders), Vincent Regan (The White Princess), Michael Nardone (Shetland) and John Gordan Sinclair (Ill Behaviour) round out the cast. Directing are Rebecca Gatward (Grantchester) and Mary Nighy (Silent Witness).
Traces is set in Scotland and explores the world of SIFA, the Scottish Institute of Forensic Science. The drama follows female characters – Emma Hedges, played by Windsor, Prof. Sarah Gordon, played by Fraser, and Prof. Kathy Torrance, played by Spence – who will use the rigors of forensics to uncover the truth about an unsolved murder case.
When 23-year-old Emma returns to Scotland to take up a new position as a lab assistant at SIFA, she signs up to an online course that teaches the principles of forensic science. But she soon discovers that the fictitious case study has a strikingly similar and shocking link to her past. As Emma’s sleuthing takes her into darker corners and unlocks more and more secrets, it becomes clear that she should trust no one. It will be Sarah and Kathy’s exacting minds that reward Emma’s faith in the science that has fueled her imagination and ultimately bring a killer to justice.
Traces will be executive produced by Nicola Shindler, Michaela Fereday, Bullmore, Philippa Collie-Cousins, Martin Rakusen and McDermid and produced by Juliet Charlesworth. It will air on Alibi later this year. BBC Studios is handling distribution internationally.
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