Tom Burke and Holliday Grainger return in Strike – The Running Grave

Tom Burke and Holliday Grainger are returning for the next instalment of STRIKE – THE RUNNING GRAVE, the seventh (5 x 60 minute) story of the BBC’s hit crime drama in co-production with HBO and Warner Bros. Discovery and based on J.K. Rowling’s best-selling crime novels written under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. 

Burke as Cormoran Strike and Grainger as Robin Ellacott lead a cast of acclaimed British actors including James Fleet as Sir Colin Edensor, Nichola McAuliffe as Shelley Heaton, Keeley Forsyth as Mazu Wace, Fabian McCallum as Will Edensor, and John Lynch as Jonathan Wace.

Ruth Sheen will return as Pat, Strike’s office manager, alongside fellow returning cast members Jack Greenlees as Sam Barclay, Tupele Dorgu as Midge, Natasha O’Keeffe as Charlotte, Sarah Sweeney as Lucy, Ben Crompton as Shanker, Stephen Hagan as DCI Richard Murphy, and Caitlin Innes Edwards as Ilsa.

When Sir Colin and Sally Edensor approach Cormoran Strike and Robin Ellacott, they are desperate to reconnect with their estranged son, Will. The Edensors enlist the detectives to gather evidence to discredit the Universal Humanitarian Church, a religious cult who have indoctrinated Will and siphoned off his trust fund.  

Led by the charismatic Jonathan Wace, the church is shielded by a charitable façade, celebrity backers and aggressive lawyers who have silenced critics. To investigate allegations of ill-treatment and abuse, Robin goes undercover at the cult’s secluded Norfolk headquarters, Chapman Farm. At the centre of the church’s twisted mythology is the story of the Drowned Prophet, Daiyu, believed to be divinely reincarnated. 

While Strike gains valuable insights from former members on the outside, Robin finds herself facing unprecedented psychological and physical duress on the inside. Solving the mystery of the Drowned Prophet’s death becomes key to the case but leads the detectives into dangerous, unchartered territory.

All seven Strike novels topped the national and international bestseller lists and the series has sold in total more than 20 million copies worldwide across all editions. The books are published in more than 50 countries across the globe and to date have been translated into 43 languages.

The show airs on HBO in North America and the previous six series of Strike are available to stream in the UK on BBC iPlayer. 

Photo credit: BBC/Brontë Film & TV/Justin Downing, Susie Allnutt