''Dark Heart'' is a British television

crime drama Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...

series, based on the ''Will Wagstaffe'' novels by writer Adam Creed, that first broadcast on 9 November 2016. The series stars Tom Riley as DI Will Wagstaffe, a police detective haunted by the unsolved double murder of his parents when he was just sixteen years old. A single feature-length pilot, based on the novel ''Suffer the Children'', was written by

Chris Lang Chris Lang (born 1961) is a British screenwriter, producer and actor. Lang has written for many British television series but is best known as the writer, creator and executive producer of '' Unforgotten''. Career Actor He trained at RADA, ...

and directed by

Colin Teague Colin Teague is a British film and television director. Born 1970 He grew up in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire and studied at Redroofs Theatre School

. It first broadcast on

ITV Encore ITV Encore was a British drama pay television channel in the United Kingdom that was owned by ITV Digital Channels Ltd, a division of ITV plc. The channel was exclusive to Sky's digital satellite platform, Sky Go, Now TV, and Sky Store. The ...

on 9 November 2016. The initial pilot co-stars

Kobna Holdbrook-Smith Kobna Kuttah Holdbrook-Smith (born 23 August 1977) is a Ghanaian-British actor known for his film, television, theatre and voice work. Early life Holdbrook-Smith was born in Accra, Ghana. He grew up in Frimley, Surrey, England, where he li ...

Tom Brooke Thomas Brooke (born 1978) is an English actor. He is best known for playing the roles of Thick Kevin in '' The Boat That Rocked'' (2009), Bill Wiggins and Andy Apsted in the BBC One television series ''Sherlock'' and ''Bodyguard'' respectivel ...

Anjli Mohindra Anjli Mohindra (born 20 February 1990) is a British stage, screen and voice-over actress and writer. She is best known for playing aspiring journalist Rani Chandra in the ''Doctor Who'' spin-off series ''The Sarah Jane Adventures'' (2008–2011) ...

, Charlotte Riley and

Miranda Raison Miranda Caroline Raison (born 18 November 1977) is an English actress and voice-over narrator. Early life Miranda Raison was born in Burnham Thorpe, Norfolk, on 18 November 1977. Her mother is former Anglia News reader Caroline Raison (''née ...

. Following strong audience reception, a series of six hour-long episodes was commissioned in December 2017, with filming taking place in Spring 2018. The series consists of four newly-written episodes alongside the pilot, which has been re-edited, with some scenes re-shot, to form the first two episodes of the series. Lang returned to pen the four new episodes; including two which were co-written by Ben Harris. Teague returned as director.

Jason Maza Jason Maza (born 24 April 1986) is an English actor, producer, director and screenwriter. Career Maza was accepted to the Central School of Speech and Drama, but at that time, he was already working as an actor so decided not to attend. Althou ...

, Michele Austin, Alex Carter and Gregg Chillin joined the cast following the departures of Brooke and Holdbrook-Smith, who was unable to return to the series because of other filming commitments. Due to the closure of

in March 2018, the series transmitted on

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

, alongside a number of other projects originally set for broadcast on Encore. The series began broadcasting on 31 October 2018, with episodes shown on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 9:00 pm.

Production

Tom Riley stated the intention of the pilot being re-shot to become the first two episodes of the series was to remove elements of violence and torture suited more to a "cable audience", and commented "we got the chance to look at it again to see what worked and what didn't work, or which way we wanted it to go. You don't really get that option. It was strange to go back, but at the same time, a luxury that you don't normally get." Notable edits made include close-up shots of a murder victim's face being removed during a scene where his testicles are shown to have been inserted into his eyesockets; scenes involving dialogue between Staffe and Josie (

) where she is seen to "admire" him being removed; and several scenes involving Staffe and Sylvie (

), including having dinner and making love, being entirely re-shot. Notably, the "blurry" close-up filming style used in the pilot is also toned-down for the remainder of the series, following negative feedback from viewers. Production filmed scenes at one of the beach chalets on

Shellness Shellness is a small coastal hamlet on the most easterly point of the Isle of Sheppey in the Borough of Swale in the English county of Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to ...

Beach,

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

and also filmed a drone shot of a car travelling along

Road,

Broadcast

The rebroadcasting of the pilot prompted an article in the '' Daily Express'', detailing complaints from several viewers, who claimed that

's failure to bill the first two episodes as a repeat were "misleading". Those who were unaware that the first two episodes were a recut of the pilot noted a considerable unexplained change come episode three, with a number of new cast members (

, Michele Austin, Alex Carter and Gregg Chillin) appearing without explanation, and the unexplained aging of Will's nephew Harry (Joseph Teague), who appears to be of primary school age in the pilot, but suddenly looks considerably older and is seen to be attending high school.

Cast

* Tom Riley as Will "Staffe" Wagstaffe; Detective Inspector *

as Josie Chancellor; Detective Constable *

as Dave Pulford; Detective Sergeant (Episodes 1—2) *

as Rick Johnson; Detective Sergeant (Episodes 1—2) *

as Rob Mullan; Detective Sergeant (Episodes 3—6) * Michele Austin as Annie Webb; Detective Constable (Episodes 3—6) * Alex Carter as Ray Monk; Detective Constable (Episodes 3—6) * Gregg Chillin as Luke Paul; forensic pathologist (Episodes 3—6) * Charlotte Riley as Juliette Wagstaffe; Staffe's elder sister *

as Sylvie; Staffe's girlfriend * Joseph Teague as Harry Wagstaffe; Staffe's nephew *

Jonathan Harden Jonathan Harden (born 1979) is an Irish actor and director. Early life Harden was born in Belfast in 1979, the son of an Irish father and American mother. Career Harden's most notable credits include the roles of Sean Rawlins in the crime drama ...

as Grant Balden *

Edward Akrout Edward Akrout is a Franco-British artist and actor. Early life and education Born in Paris, Akrout grew up between France and England. He studied philosophy at the Sorbonne before attending Le Cours Florent in Paris for theatre, followed by ...

as Paulo; Juliette's fiancé *

Christopher Fulford Christopher Fulford (born 1955) is a British actor who is best known for his supporting roles in many British TV shows, one of the earliest being punk Alex in the short lived sitcom '' Sorry, I'm A Stranger Here Myself'' (1981–82). Career Ful ...

as Bob Jessop; ex-Detective Inspector (Episodes 1—2)

Episodes

Pilot (2016)

Series 1 (2018)

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, id=5866284, title=Dark Heart 2016 British television series debuts 2010s British crime drama television series English-language television shows ITV television dramas Murder in television Television series by ITV Studios Television shows set in London