ITV drama Grace returned to our screens on Sunday, with John Simm reprising his role as the titular detective. And, while there are 16 novels left for the series to explore, the BAFTA nominee doesn’t find that daunting.
Simm, who brought DSI Roy Grace to the screen last year, has revealed that he’s “more than happy to keep playing him” for years to come.
When asked whether he was hesitant about taking a role that he could be attached to for the long term, Simm said: “No, not at all, quite the opposite.
“In this day and age, we should be thankful to be working, and when this role came to me straight after the pandemic, I was just so keen to work. Maybe if I was younger, it might have been a thing – back then, I didn’t want to hang around projects for too long because I wanted to do different stuff, but I’ve been doing this job for 30 odd years.”
He continued: “I’ve played loads of different characters, and I’m sure there’ll be loads more coming up, I’ll do other things as well. But Roy Grace is such an intriguing part and to have the whole world of the novels to immerse myself in has been invaluable. I’m more than happy to keep playing him if people want to keep watching the show.”
As for whether we can expect another Roy Grace novel to come out in the future, author Peter James said that he’s “very conscious” of getting ahead of the curve with his writing.
“I really need to up my writing from one Roy Grace a year to four! The problem is that I do a lot of research for each book and I’d hate to compromise that. If, God willing, the series continues to be successful and we do run out of books, we can always create new stories. I’ve got about 50 Roy Grace ideas that I want to do eventually, so we’re not going to run short of
Grace airs Sundays on ITV at 8pm and ITV Hub. If you’re looking for more to watch, check out our TV Guide or visit our Drama hub.
If you want to start reading Peter James’ Roy Grace series, you can purchase the first three novels on Amazon.
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