“Above Suspicion – Deadly Intent” is a three part detective drama due to go out on ITV from 3rd – 5th January 2011 at 9pm each evening in the UK. The series is based on the fourth novel by Lynda la Plante.
The beautiful DCI Anna Travis (played by Kelly Reilly) gets the attention of every man in the station while she does the work of six in solving one of the most complex and extensive cases of the station’s history. Meanwhile, her boss is out of the picture with personal problems and her love interest is somewhat frosty.
The body of a former police officer is discovered in a suspected drug deal gone wrong. When it turns out that he took a secret wife who is several rungs above him on the social ladder, his former colleagues become suspicious. The Danish widow is not all she seems and an international, cross-agency investigation begins.
Lynda la Plante explains the reality of relationships within the UK police force and how it impacted on her characters:
“It happens a lot, which is why it used to be very frowned upon for any fraternising of police officers working on the same case but also, a higher ranking officer with a young female officer would be even more controversial, though it does happen. In fact two of my most valued researchers are two very high-ranking police officers and are married to each other. Just like any workplace romance, if there’s a relationship between staff there are always raised eyebrows, murmurings and nudges, it’s office gossip.
“Langton is a dedicated police officer and an exceedingly good one who has very strong gut instincts, but he is not an intellectual man. He’s hardly ever read a book, if it wasn’t connected to a crime. However, Travis is university educated and different… she also stands up to him, which none of the other women or men do. But like Langton, Travis is actually very intuitively intelligent and in many ways has a similar trait to Langton in that, she won’t let something go. This makes her a very good detective, she could very easily dismiss the fact that one of the witnesses said she heard three bullets, her persistence in uncovering the detail proves to be the key in this case. A fact that Langton admires.”
La Plante Productions gave its own flavour to the programs with real-life plastic & reconstruction surgeon Marko Lens performing the opening scene involving a face lift. Also, Callum ‘Cass’ Sutherland is a retired Metropolitan Police detective and police advisor who features as the first victim in the story.
This three-part drama is the latest in a series of high-budget, well-written crime mini-series from ITV. Following in the footsteps of Whitechapel, DCI Banks: Aftermath and Father & Son, ITV once again proves that crime does pay – for television channels at least.
Table of Contents
Cast
KELLY REILLY (Sherlock Holmes, Meant To Be) as DI Anna Travis
CIARÁN HINDS (John Carter of Mars, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows) as Detective Chief Superintendent James Langton
SHAUN DINGWALL (Rock & Chips, Moses Jones) as Detective Chief Inspector Mike Lewis
CELYN JONES (Law & Order: UK) as Detective Sergeant Paul Barolli
AMANDA LAWRENCE (Little Dorrit) as Joan Faukland
RAY FEARON (Raw, Missing) as DCI Sam Power
ROBBIE GEE (The Fixer, Murphy’s Law) as Silas Roach
ANDREW WOODALL (Place of Execution, Lawless) as David Rushton
JULIAN SANDS (The Good Life, Assisting Venus) as Damian Nolan
RICHARD BRAKE (Outpost, Halloween II) as Marshall
STINE STENGADE as Julia Larson
BENEDIKTE HANSEN as Helga Nolan
TILLY BLACKWOOD as Sadie D’Anton
Pete Jenkins as Richard Clothier
Julias D’Anton as James Clyde
Eddie Court as Ashley George
Veronica Malins as Thusitha Jayasundera
Surgeon as Marko Lens
Joshua White as Kirris Riviere
Faber as Kim Romer
Danny Petrozzo as Enzo Squillino
Jeremy Webster as Geoffrey Streatfeild
Frank Brandon as Callum ‘Cass’ Sutherland
Andrej as Aliash Tepina
Connie Short as Natalie Walter
Mrs Webster as Marjorie Yates
Crew
Executive producers: Lynda La Plante, Liz Thorburn
Producer: Hugh Warren
Director: Gillies MacKinnon