Holliday Grainger joins Tom Burke for major BBC One drama
Show based on J.K. Rowling’s crime novels written under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, begins shoot in London in November.
Published: 2 November 2016
I couldn’t be more delighted about the casting of Holliday Grainger, who brought my Robin to perfect onscreen life during her audition. We’ve now secured two superb actors in the lead roles and I think they will create something very special together.
British actor Holliday Grainger has been cast as Robin Ellacott opposite Tom Burke’s Cormoran Strike, in a major new TV series for BBC One.
The Strike Series is based on J.K. Rowling’s bestselling crime novels written under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. The Cuckoo’s Calling (3 x 60 minutes), The Silkworm (2 x 60 minutes) and Career of Evil (2 x 60 minutes) are set to begin shooting in November across London. The casting announcement was made today by BBC One and J.K. Rowling’s production company Brontë Film & TV.
Grainger, who most recently starred in BBC’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover as Lady Constance Chatterley, will play Robin, assistant to Strike, a private detective operating out of a tiny office in London’s Denmark Street. Though she begins as a temporary secretary, managing Strike’s chaotic life, she soon becomes involved with his caseload and begins to see her true potential.
Holliday Grainger says: “I'm thrilled to be joining the talented creative team behind The Strike Series, especially with the role of Robin Ellacott. Her grounded strength and intelligence is going to be a joy to explore. I can't wait to dive straight into the wit and grit of Strike's cannily well observed London.”
J.K. Rowling says: “I couldn’t be more delighted about the casting of Holliday Grainger, who brought my Robin to perfect onscreen life during her audition. We’ve now secured two superb actors in the lead roles and I think they will create something very special together.”
J.K. Rowling (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, The Casual Vacancy), Neil Blair (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, The Casual Vacancy), Ruth Kenley-Letts (The Casual Vacancy, The Hour) and Elizabeth Kilgarriff (for the BBC) will executive produce based on scripts by Ben Richards (The Tunnel: Sabotage, Spooks) who will write The Cuckoo’s Calling and The Silkworm, and Tom Edge (The Last Dragon Slayer, Lovesick) who will write Career of Evil. Michael Keillor (Line of Duty, Critical) will direct The Cuckoo’s Calling, and Jackie Larkin (Stella Days, Kings) will produce.
Charlotte Moore, Director of BBC Content and Ben Stephenson, former Controller BBC Drama Commissioning, originally ordered the show. HBO has acquired U.S. and Canadian rights to the show.
This marks a continuation of the BBC’s relationship with Brontë Film and TV and J.K. Rowling. Brontë Film & TV produced J.K. Rowling’s The Casual Vacancy, a three-part serial, which aired on BBC One in 2015.
The Cuckoo’s Calling was published to critical acclaim in 2013 and went on to be a global bestseller, followed in 2014 by The Silkworm and Career of Evil in 2015. All three books were number one Sunday Times bestsellers in both hardback and paperback and Little, Brown has sold in total over four million copies worldwide across all editions.
Cormoran Strike is one of the most memorable and distinctive detectives in crime fiction today and Robert Galbraith is among the genre’s most celebrated writers, shortlisted for the prestigious CWA Gold Dagger in 2015 and the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year in 2016.
Grainger’s credits include feature films Cinderella, Anna Karenina and the much anticipated Tulip Fever. Her television credits include Lady Chatterley’s Lover, Bonnie & Clyde and The Borgias. She is represented by Troika, WME and LBI Entertainment.
RM2/Ian Thomson
