Grace against time

John Simm is back in the Brighton-based crime drama. SARAH MORGAN finds out more

- SARAH MORGAN

Some things are, it seems, simply meant to be.

Take turning Peter James's long-running Roy Grace series of novels into a TV drama. Not only does the show have a ready-made fanbase because the books sell in their millions around the globe (the Queen herself is said to be a fan), but they're already pretty cinematic, perhaps because James worked as a film producer before putting pen to paper.

The only surprise is that it took so long for them to make it to the screen - the first Grace book, Dead Simple, was published in 2005, while the TV series didn't appear until 2021. However, ITV1 is making up for lost time - we're about to be treated to the fifth series.