The Fall: BBC Two crime drama starring Gillian Anderson

A serial killer and a detective pit their wits against each other in The Fall, a five-part crime drama due to start on BBC Two on Monday 13 May 2013. The detective is Detective Superintendent Stella Gibson (played by Gillian Anderson) and her adversary is Paul Spector (played by Jamie Dornan), a serial killer preying on young women in Belfast.

Gibson is brought to Northern Ireland from London’s Metropolitan Police after local officers are left scratching their heads following a high-profile murder. She works out that a serial killer is on the loose and heads a task force to find him.

Viewers though know from the start his identity and see the drama unfold from his point of view as well. They see him living an apparently normal life with his wife and children and the lengths he goes to in avoiding detection by the law.

Actors in The Fall

Gillian Anderson is best known for playing Dana Scully in The X Files but her first major role was as April Cavanaugh in the 1992 film The Turning. Other roles have included Lady Dedlock in Bleak House, the Duchess of Windsor in Any Human Heart, Mrs Castaway in The Crimson Petal and the White, Elizabeth in Moby Dick, Miss Havisham in Great Expectations and Doctor Bedelia Du Maurier in Hannibal. Bleak House and Any Human Heart earned her Bafta nominations and The X Files landed her a Golden Globe, Saturn Award and an Emmy.

Irish actor Jamie Dornan is currently on TV screens as Sheriff Graham (The Huntsman) in Once Upon a Time, his first recurring television role. Film roles have included Count Axel Fersen in 2006’s Oscar winning Marie Antoinette and Joe in 2009’s Shadows in the Sun.

The killer’s wife Sally-Ann Spector (played by Bronagh Waugh) has no idea of her husband’s secret life. John Lynch plays senior police officer ACC Jim Burns. Archie Panjabi plays pathologist Tanya Reed Smith, who becomes close friends with Gibson. Local politician Morgan Monroe (played by Ian McElhinney) is the father of one of the suspects.

Also in The Fall are Niamh McGrady as Danielle Ferrington, Laura Donnelly as young solicitor Sarah Kay, Frank McCusker as Garrett Brink, Simon Delaney as Jerry McElroy, Siobhan McSweeney as Mary McCurdy, Gerard Jordan as Brian Stone, Michael McElhatton as Rod Breedlove, Ben Peel as James Olson, Karen Hassen as Annie Brawley, Lisa Hogg as Marion Kay, Emmett Scanlan as Glen Martin and Aisling Francois as Katie.

Team behind The Fall

The Fall was written and executive produced by Allan Cubitt, directed by Jakob Verbruggen, produced by Gub Neal and Julian Stevens, and executive produced by Justin Thomson-Glover and Patrick Irwin, with Stephen Wright acting as executive producer for the BBC. Produced by Fables in association with Artists Studio for BBC Two, it was commissioned by BBC Northern Ireland, with funding from Northern Ireland Screen.