Home TV News Suspects returns to Channel 5 for a 2nd series and new guest stars

Suspects returns to Channel 5 for a 2nd series and new guest stars

by Dave Elliott
Suspects returns to Channel 5

Suspects returns to Channel 5

Season Two of Channel 5’s critically acclaimed original crime drama Suspects, starring Fay RipleyDamien Molony and Clare-Hope Ashitey will launch later this year with a 2 x 1 hour special featuring a stellar line up of guest artistes – Charlie Brooks(EastEndersI’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here), Dominic Power (EmmerdaleThe Bill), Claire Cooper (Waking the Dead,Hollyoaks), Luke Newberry (In The Flesh, Sherlock) and Katie Jarvis (Fish Tank).

This two part special opens with barrister Jonathan Moxton found naked, tied up and covered in blood – it looks like a sex game has gone very wrong indeed. DI Martha Bellamy (Fay Ripley) and her team, DS Jack Weston (Damien Molony) and DC Charlotte ‘Charlie’ Steele (Clare-Hope Ashitey) soon suspect that it was actually a premeditated attack.  Who hit Jonathan with a hammer? And why is DS Jack Weston so rattled by this case?

Soon falling under suspicion are Jonathan’s dutiful and respectable wife, Tanya Moxton (Charlie Brooks), paranoid schizophrenic Saul Hammond (Dominic Power) and Saul’s appropriate adult Sadie Burns (Katie Jarvis). Uncovering more of Jonathan’s secrets leads the team to Nate Turner (Luke Newberry).  When a second man is found battered with a hammer, Martha, Jack and Charlie are horrified – this time the attack is fatal. Is Saul Hammond – whom they let out on bail – responsible for both attacks? As the investigation unfolds, drug-user Carol Collins (Claire Cooper) also comes under the spotlight. The team must catch this serial offender before they strike again.

Suspects takes a different approach to how crime drama is created and executed: the cast improvise the dialogue from a tightly-plotted, non-scripted storyline, and the series adopts filming techniques and a directorial approach usually associated with factual programming and fly-on-the-wall documentaries. Suspects focuses on a team of three detectives and their distinctive approaches to the job of policing.  Fay Ripley plays D.I. Martha Bellamy. Witty and warm, Martha fiercely protects her team – and she’s exactly the kind of cop you want knocking on your door when your world has been turned upside down. Damien Molony plays D.S. Jack Weston, whose easy charm belies his killer gut instinct.  Jack is a man of action – coupled with acute emotional intelligence.  Finally, Clare-Hope Ashitey plays D.C. Charlotte ‘Charlie’ Steele, who has a keen eye for detail and whip-smart instincts which help her cut to the heart of any investigation.  Passionate yet level headed, Charlie believes the police can make a real difference…

Also guesting in future episodes of this new season are; Emmett J. Scanlan (The Fall, Hollyoaks), Ben Peel (The Fall), Gillian Kearney (Casualty, Brookside) and Carley Stenson (Hollyoaks).  Further hard-hitting cases that feature in this new season include an investigation into what has happened to two missing girls who resurface after several years, one pulled badly burned out of the Thames, and a further two part special in which the team investigate a paedophile ring.

Commissioned at Channel 5 by Ben Frow, Director of Programmes, the edgy, unscripted drama is produced by Newman Street (part of FremantleMedia UK), and co-created and executive-produced by Paul Marquess (The BillFootballers’ WivesHollyoaks).

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