The Guilty: ITV crime drama starring Tamsin Greig

The death of a four-year old boy is the mystery to be solved in The Guilty, a three-part crime drama due to start on ITV on Thursday 5 September 2013. In 2008, Claire and Daniel Reid (played by Katherine Kelly and Darren Boyd) are distraught when their four-year son disappears after a neighbourhood barbecue. Five years later, his body is discovered buried near to the family home.

Detective constable Maggie Brand (played by Tamsin Greig) lead the original investigation until her morning sickness forced her to step down. She is called back in to lead what is a murder investigation now that little Callum’s body has been found. But Brand also has her problems. Her son Sam, who was born months after the original case, has autism and she is trying to deal with the resultant problems as he starts school.

In what is becoming very popular these days, the drama is not linear, with the action jumping backwards and forwards between 2008 and the present day.

Actors in The Guilty

Tamsin Greig was Debbie Aldridge in the BBC Radio Four soap The Archers. She was in Green Wing as Dr Caroline Todd, which was rewarded with an RTS Television Award for best comedy performance. Other roles have included Fran in Black Books, Alice Chenery in Love Soup (which led to a Golden Nymph nomination at the 2008 Monte-Carlo TV Festival), Edith Frank in The Diary of Anne Frank and Miss Bates in Emma. More recently, she played Beth in White Heat and Jackie in Friday Night Dinner, both of which earned her Bafta nominations, and Beverly Lincoln in Episodes.

“Maggie’s very good at her job,” said Greig about her character. “She’s very contained, has a great eye for detail and doesn’t suffer fools gladly. I’ve met a couple of DCIs as research and the thing they are very interested in now is emotional intelligence. Maggie has that but she also has a very interesting emotional detachment, so she has emotional intelligence which is buried. She’s not interested in making people feel at ease, she’s just interested in what the truth is and I think that’s very unsettling for the people she works with. She’s not instantly likeable but she’s respected and knows how to do her job well, regardless of what’s expected of her.”

Darren Boyd’s career started when he landed the role of Craig Chapman in 1998 in Kiss Me Kate. The show ran till 2001 during which time he also played Hugo Yemp in Hippies. After appearing in several roles in more than 20 episodes of Smack the Pony, he went on to play Ben in Watching Ellie, Nick Burham in Broken News, Jake in Green Wing, Simon Jessop in ReGenesis, Walton on The Jane Show, Jonathon in Saxondale, Tite Barnacle Junior in Little Dorrit and Simon Turner in Personal Affair. More recently, he was Bib in Whites, Richard McDuff in Dirk Gently, Simon Waterhouse in Case Sensitive, John Cleese in the BBC’s Holy Flying Circus and Tim in Spy, which earned him a Bafta in 2012.

Katherine Kelly is best known for playing Becky McDonald in more than 700 episodes of Coronation Street, a role that has seen her win two British Soap Awards and be nominated for another eight. Her television career started in 2003 when she played Tina Allen in two episodes of Silent Witness. Other roles have included Auntie Heather in Life on Mars, Maloney in The Field of Blood and Lady Mae in Mr Selfridge. She also played Junkie Jane in the 2006 film Mischief Night.

“I suppose if you had to label The Guilty you’d call it a crime drama,” said Kelly, “but it’s just so much more than that. It’s not all wrapped up in a box with a bow and a label stuck on it.”

The programme also features Jay Simpson as detective sergeant Ron Singer and Arsher Ali as detective sergeant Vinseh Roy. The murdered boy Callum is played by Daniel Runacres-Grundstrom. Jude Folley plays Luke Reid, Jamie Sives plays Jeb Colman, Tommy Potten plays Sam, Cleo Sylvestre plays Ilse, Milo Twomey plays Joe Wightman, Alan Williams plays Frank Lawson, Glen Wallace plays Sean O’Donnell, Madlen Meyer plays Nina Huber, Ruta Gedmintas plays Tessa Morgan and Pooky Quesnel plays Ruth.

Team behind The Guilty

Written by Debbie O’Malley, The Guilty was produced by Hartswood Films. The producer was Elaine Cameron and executive producer Beryl Vertue. Ed Bazalgette was the director.