Strike: Troubled Blood

Private detective Cormoran Strike (Tom Burke) is visiting his family in Cornwall when he's approached by a woman, Anna Phipps (Sophie Ward) asking for help ...

It dawned on me that he was in the army and he became a private investigator and of course, he can sort of hide in London, he can be anonymous and he can keep his head down, but going back to Cornwall has forced him to have kind of relationships and contact with family that he’s probably shied away from. And we see, particularly a side of Strike that we’ve not really seen in the series before. You think you’re gonna behave in a certain way and nine times out ten, you don’t, and I think it’s the same with characters. But then he was constantly being wrenched out of that and so, telling the story of how dysfunctional his upbringing was, helps us understand Strike in a way that we haven’t up till now. I think we understand Strike much better for seeing him down there, both as a child struggling and wondering where his mother was in the world, and as an adult reconciling himself to the fact that this has been his home. It is that side of Strike that we get to learn about in this series, which makes a lot of the aspects of his character make a lot of sense. Part time mum, in and out of his life, and Ted and Joan in Cornwall represented a time of stability and calm and love. It’s also true that she has been in a relationship with Matthew and no one else for a very long time, they started going out together when they were at school and Matthew is the only man that she has ever been in a relationship with. This is the first time that we go to Cornwall and we see a bit of his background. Troubled Blood is the first time we truly explore the disjunct between Strike as we’ve come to know him, living above his office on Denmark Street in the heart of London, and Strike as he once was, a kid, often foisted on his Aunt and Uncle in St Mawes, worrying that his mother might never come home, given her wildness and her seeming lack of regard for her progeny. And I think that also goes hand in hand with her career, she’s now a partner in the business with Strike and she’s got much more experience. Troubled Blood focuses on a cold case, Robin and Strike are investigating the disappearance of a doctor in the 1970s.

Tom Burke is back as the hard-drinking detective, with Holliday Grainger as his resourceful sidekick.

Strike: Troubled Blood, in other words, is the BBC at its best, and now, as in the 1970s, the corporation is one of the few things in this benighted nation that actually works and is world-class. Director Sue Tully (Michelle Fowler in EastEnders half a lifetime ago) makes the most of the backdrops and we’re also treated to the usual In the opener of the new series, Strike, as a celebrated detective, is accosted by a woman as he emerges, refreshed, from a session in the boozer. Strike is an ex-soldier with a touch of PTSD, a bit of a drink problem, and a troubled childhood. Instead, Strike is permanently attuned to the depraved aspects of human nature, which he’s witnessed in war and peace. “Akin to”, that is, because Strike is the sort of bloke who seems never-ready for love, and certainly not dressed for it.

The cross-dressing villain has gone from the source material, but Rowling's impassioned feminism and cancel-culture backlash remain.

Margot Bamborough (Abigail Lawrie), seen in flashbacks, is/was a young doctor whose vocal feminism earn her plenty of potential enemies in the sleazy Seventies. Some acting on the undercard is a bit teaky, but there are flavoursome cameos from Cherie Lunghi, Kenneth Cranham and – surprise! At a lively dinner thrown by his colleague, Robin (Holliday Grainger), Strike (Tom Burke) gives both barrels to a pair of puritans from the cancellariat. Isn’t it actually Robin, who does half the detecting and much more of the acting? [JK Rowling](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/columnists/2022/08/16/should-have-defended-jk-rowling-when-had-chance/) donned the invisibility cloak of Robert Galbraith it allowed her crime fiction to be judged on its own merits. A kerfuffle soon ensued when Troubled Blood, the fifth [Galbraith](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/what-to-read/ink-black-heart-robert-galbraith-review-jk-rowlings-strike-faces/) novel featuring private detective Cormoran Strike, included a serial killer who dresses up as a woman.

Tom Burke and Holliday Grainger are returning for Strike - Troubled Blood, the fifth story in the TV series based on J.K. Rowling's best-selling crime ...

Part time mum, in and out of his life, and Ted and Joan in Cornwall represented a time of stability and calm and love." [BBC Casualty viewers react to 'hard hitting' improvised episode](https://www.walesonline.co.uk/lifestyle/tv/casualty-bbc-one-improvised-episode-25722921) [Strictly Christmas special 2022 line-up in full as contestants announced](https://www.walesonline.co.uk/lifestyle/tv/strictly-christmas-special-2022-line-25646413) [Clarkson Farm season two release date as Jeremy Clarkson starts countdown](https://www.walesonline.co.uk/lifestyle/tv/clarkson-farm-season-two-release-25708392) [Who has left BBC The Traitors so far? Discussing it, Alex said: "Shooting in the centre of London is increasingly difficult but it’s like Strike’s overcoat, it's iconic and an important part of the show. There’s also some irony, his dad is a rock’n’roller who he’s estranged from and Strike works in Denmark Street AKA “Guitar Alley”. The new series heads to Cornwall for the first time, where much of season 5 was set and filmed. "Strike’s never tackled a cold case, before let alone one 40 years old, but despite the slim chance of success he’s intrigued and takes it on, adding to the long list of cases that he and his partner in the agency Robin Ellacott are currently working on. We were able to preserve an awful lot in terms of both plot and the list of characters, which I was really pleased about. For more showbiz and television stories get our newsletter While filming also took place in Skegness, in Lincolnshire. Called Troubled Blood, the series will see Tom Burke and Holliday Grainger reprise their roles as Cormoran Strike and Robin Ellacott. They learn that even cases decades old can prove to be deadly." Based on J.K.