Fans of British crime dramas, especially those that explore territory just outside the bounds of sanity and the law, are in for a treat courtesy to BritBox. Premiere trailer for BritBox’s original series Suspect, featuring James Nesbitt as a tough investigator determined to uncover the truth about his daughter’s death. Danny Frater, a detective with nothing to lose, is introduced in the trailer for Suspect. When he arrives at the hospital morgue, he discovers that the body he is supposed to examine is really that of his own daughter, Christina. The local detective inspector is shocked when Danny, overcome with grief, refuses to accept the coroner’s conclusions that his daughter committed suicide and instead sets out on a road of retribution to discover those guilty for her death.
The truth of Christina’s steady decline into the criminal underground, transforming her into a woman Danny scarcely recognises even on the autopsy table, is revealed in each episode, but it may not be what Danny was hoping to see. In each episode, a different film or television star—including Doctor Who’s Sacha Dhawan, Joely Richardson, Richard E. Grant, Outlander’s Sam Heughan, and more—plays a significant role in Danny’s deconstruction of his daughter’s demise. Each episode features an interrogation of a different person in Christina’s life, including her mother, mentor, godfather, business partner, best friend, and partner, allowing viewers to participate in Danny’s inquiry as it unfolds. While Danny is trying to find out who killed his daughter, his plans don’t quite work out.
Instead of placing the blame solely on an external factor, he must also consider whether or if his own shortcomings as a parent contributed in any way to his daughter’s tragic end. There are eight 30-minute episodes in which he must come to grips with the ways in which death has touched his family and embrace the possibility that he may have been complicit in inviting that touch. On September 27th, BritBox will air the world premiere of Suspect.