Prey: ITV detective series starring John Simm

Having shot to fame as Sam Tyler in Life on Mars, John Simm finds himself playing another out-of-place Manchester detective in Prey, a three-part drama due to start on ITV on Monday 28th April 2014. This time though he his on the wrong-side of the law when his character Detective Sergeant Marcus Farrow is wrongly accused of murder.

After escaping from custody, he has to avoid recapture while trying to find the evidence to clear his name. Leading the police efforts to find him is acting Detective Chief Inspector Susan Reinhardt, played by Rosie Cavaliero.

Simm was injured during the filming in a scene where he had to climb out of a river. On the third take, his foot slipped and he tore a calf muscle.

“I've never had any problems with my calf muscles before, and it wasn't as if I hadn't stretched and prepared correctly, so I guess it was just bad luck,” said Simm. “I've never torn any muscle but there's a first time for everything. It was frustrating, as we had to halt filming for a while as the muscle healed and I had physio, but I was raring to go when we resumed filming in the New Year and there were no more problems.”

Actors in Prey

John Simm received Bafta nominations for his roles as Sam Tyler in Life on Mars and Tom Ronstadt in Exile. Life on Mars also saw him nominated for a Golden Nymph at the 2007 Monte-Carlo TV Festival. He is also well known for playing The Master in five episodes of Doctor Who.

After an appearance in an episode of Rumpole of the Bailey in 1992, he got his first recurring role the following year as Posh Robert in Oasis. Other notable roles have included Kendle Bains in Men of the World, Bill Preece in Cracker, Danny Kavanagh in The Lakes, Cal McCaffrey in State of Play, Daniel Appleton in Sex Traffic, Edward Sexby in The Devil’s Whore, John Middleton in The Village and Baxter in Mad Dogs.

Rosie Cavaliero’s television career dates back to the early 1990s and her first recurring role was in 1999 as Amy in Cold Feet. She was also Christine McMurray in Eyes Down, Sally Frank in Feel the Force, Penny in Saxondale, Mrs Plornish in Little Dorrit, Kate Bales in Clatterford, Paula in Spy, Hesther in Hunderby, Helen in Pat & Cabbage, Miranda Fisher in Wizards Versus Aliens, and Pelageya in A Young Doctor’s Notebook. Her film credits include playing Grace Pool in 2011’s Jane Eyre.

Farrow has allies in the police force in the form of best friend Detective Inspector Sean Devlin (played by Craig Parkinson) and colleague Detective Chief Inspector Andrea Mackenzie, played by Anastasia Hills. Prey also features Adrian Edmondson as Assistant Chief Constable Warner.

Heather Peace plays Farrow’s wife Abi, who is living apart from Marcus despite his efforts to patch up their relationship. Charlie Concannon and Ezra Dent-Watson play their sons Max and Finn.

Also in Prey are Benedict Wong as Detective Sargeant Ash Chan, Struan Rodger as Topher Lomax, Brian Vernel as Dale Lomax, Ray Emmet Brown as Tony Reinhardt, Meryl Hampton as Gilly Hanson, Elif Knight as Leila Hassan, Gem Carmella as Amira Hassan, Samuel Gomes Da Silva as Asil Hassan, Greg Cook as Jeff Sharp, Melissa Jane Sinden as Mrs Nutter, Jim Whelan as Mr Nutter, Abukar Osman as Malaqi, Zoe Dickens as Flo, Emma Edmondson as Janice, Helen Kay as FME Spencer, Louise Prodding as a policewoman, Zariah Bailey and Daniel Jillings as policemen, and Anthony Grundy as the custody sergeant.

Team behind Prey

Created and written by newcomer Chris Lunt, the three hour-long episodes were directed by Nick Murphy and produced by Tom Sherry. The executive producer was Nicola Shindler from Red Production.

“We’ve attempted something different with Prey,” said Shindler. “It’s very fast-paced and to enhance the high-octane qualities of Chris’ brilliant scripts we’ve essentially filmed the episodes from the back of a transit van. It’s almost a guerrilla style technique, which makes Prey feel accessible and edgy with the ‘real’ factor. We’re confident re-defining how we shoot has heightened the tension and created an added layer of intrigue to the drama.”

Prey was commissioned by Steve November, ITV’s director of drama.