Inside Grace Series 6: With John Simm on the Return of the Iconic Detective

ITV Press Centre
Grace – Series 6
19 Mar 2026

ITV confirms that popular Brighton-based detective drama Grace is set to return for a sixth series.

You are back for Series six, how does that feel?

I’m thrilled. When me and Richie.. all those years ago, we met up, and we were so thrilled to be doing the first one, and we thought, oh, maybe one or two, you know… and then it just seemed to find its feet, and achieved the viewing figures, so I’m absolutely thrilled. [I don’t usually do long running things] but I will happily do this as long as people want it, you know?

I realise how lucky I am to be playing the lead in a cop show. I love it. I love the job, I love the people, and it’s unlike anything I’ve ever done, it genuinely is like a family. We have the same crew, the same people come back to make the show every year, and every time we start again and walk on set, it feels like coming home! So, yeah, I’m absolutely thrilled to be doing more.

Viewers have seen Grace go through a lot since Series 1. Where do we find him at the start of this series?

Well, the fallout from the Cassian Pewe debacle is still hanging over everybody, the team are being investigated, and also that chilling warning that he gives at the end of the last series, that they’ll be coming for Bruno. So, we find him and Glenn with that hanging over them, really, but, you know, we’re also straight into a new case to solve too!

Every week it’s a new case, but, in the background is this specter of this threat, and I have to say, Grace makes a huge mistake, and doesn’t tell Cleo… Which, I don’t agree with him. He’s a good guy, Grace, but I don’t agree with him when he keeps these secrets. So, yeah, so that’s where we find him this time round.

And on top of all of that, Grace and Cleo are supposed to be getting married…

I don’t think he’ll be choosing the colours of the napkins and things like that! He’s pretty busy, but so is she. And they’re still dealing with the loss of the baby, and Bruno suddenly being there, and the whole thing with Sandy, and Grace and Branson are – Branson especially – he really wants to get this gang and so he sort of drives it a little bit and goes to Munich and so we keep going with that too. So there’s plenty going on in his personal life and obviously, there’s plenty of mysteries to solve in the meantime.

There are some really stark realisations about Sandy in this series, and about what Grace and Branson are gonna have to do, and what they’re gonna be compelled to go and do. What has this done to Grace over the years? Having this on his shoulders, meeting someone new, but still just having this weighing him down the whole time…

Yeah, it’s been hanging over him, you know, from the very first episode, and he can’t really learn to live with it. But the more they investigate it, and the more that we as the audience find out what happened. It’s a compelling storyline, and I was worried that when it was all tied up and she died, and we finally found out what happened, that that would be it, and, you know, he needs some kind of traumatic thing in his life to make everything interesting, you know! To make a show like this interesting, there has to be conflict and drama and so it’s not going away. The aftermath of everything to do with Sandy is very much alive and real, and that’s what they’re dealing with, and it affects all of them, especially Grace and Branson.

Personally, the stakes are really, really high, and people dear to them are in danger. So it’s an ever-present thing. I love the fact that we’ve sort of veered away from the novels a little bit, and now the TV show has become a thing in its own right too. We’ve kept characters alive, or, you know, killed off other characters that are in the novels. So, as viewers, the rug is pulled from underneath you, even if you know the novels, they’re going to be slightly different here! The tv series has got its own identity.

How scared is he for Bruno?

Yeah. You can’t have a completely happy detective! I love the sort of trauma that he’s going through as an actor, not for him, obviously, it’s awful for him, but to play that, the problems he has in his personal life is great as an actor. So, the Bruno thing… he’s really awkward with Bruno, as a father, he’s got no idea, really, and because of the circumstances, and how Bruno suddenly appeared, and what happened to his mum, and things like that. But I like the fact that he’s quite awkward with him. And the Cleo relationship also is affected by the traumatic thing that happened with the loss of the child, and also having to adopt this sort of grown child, really, who’s also suffering his own trauma. There’s loads going on, and as good a detective as he is, he’s really awkward as a father, let’s say. But I really like that aspect of it.

With stakes being so high, we see the friendship between Grace and Branson tested this series?

They do have an argument. Which was quite interesting, and quite weird to do, actually! Because we never actually argue. The tensions are high, they’re not superhuman, and you know, they make mistakes, which is why I love these characters, they’re real.

Was it a bit uncomfortable being kind of stroppy with each other if you’re not used to that?

Yeah, really uncomfortable! It was very strange. It’s just really weird, yeah. Richie joked that we went a bit method, and we didn’t talk to each other for about 20 minutes, but it was probably 15 minutes, let’s not get hysterical!

Viewers will also see him meet someone, a dealer, that he’s encountered years before, and that throws up quite a lot for him, doesn’t it?

Yeah, that’s an interesting one. He has a sense of guilt over that, that he couldn’t protect this kid at the time, and the kid was failed by social services, really, when Grace was an on the beat copper. His parents were drug addicts, and he tried to look out for him, he tried to look after him, and then he got moved. So, when he comes across him again in this series, he’s now a fully grown man, and he’s a pretty dangerous drug dealer. That’s an interesting clash of past and present to him, injustice and guilt. He wants to help him, but also, he needs to bring him down, because he’s a bad guy, and Grace brings down the bad guys, that’s what he does, it doesn’t matter who they are. Like Judge Dredd, he is the law, and he sticks to the book. Not all the time, but in general.

Grace is able to stay quite composed, which is remarkable in so many ways.

Yeah, he’s a very calm human being, which is interesting to play, because, it is all going on behind the eyes, really, and he has to deal with terrible things in his day-to-day life, and they all do. The things that they see, it’s a traumatic job. But he has to stay calm, and that’s why he’s the lead detective. He’s really, really good at that, and he’s got this sixth sense.

Are you still enjoying the short commute, John?

Yeah, it’s very handy! Sometimes people will walk past that I know. I’m usually kind of in the zone though and not sort of paying much attention to anything outside of the set. But for me personally, over these 5 or 6 years, filming Grace has been a great way for me to discover my hometown! We’ve been everywhere, and it’s a fantastic place, Brighton. A fantastic place to live, fantastic place to film. It’s a character in its own right.

Do you still go for your dinners with author Peter James and debrief?

Yeah, when I can. But this time it’s been put on hold, because I’ve been filming, but usually we’d have had this dinner by now. We always go to English’s, and we always sit at the Roy Grace table. It’s a lovely tradition, actually. He’s great to hang out with, he’s got some stories!

Peter loves the show. It’s so close to him. These characters are so close to him that for me personally, it’s thrilling that he loves what we’re doing, and that we’re doing his… his baby, really. We’re doing justice to his vision and these characters that he’s created.

You’ve said you’d like to keep playing Grace as long as audiences want it, but it’d be nice for him to have a little bit of happiness, wouldn’t it?

He gets little tiny snippets, and then it is snatched away, and then the drama starts again… You can’t have a happy detective, he has to have some kind of conflict, sorry!

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Series 5 of Grace, was one of ITV’s most popular dramas of 2025, whilst all five series of Grace have generated over 16 million streams on ITVX. The series is commissioned by Director of Drama Polly Hill and Drama Commissioner Huw Kennair Jones. Huw oversees production on behalf of the broadcaster. Grace is produced by Tall Story Pictures, part of ITV Studios, and Vaudeville Productions. 

The Executive Producers are Phil Hunter for Tall Story Pictures, and Andrew O’Connor and Paul Sandler for Vaudeville Productions, Kiaran Murray- Smith, Peter James and John Simm. Writers for this series will be Guy Burt, Caroline Carver and Ed Whitmore.

Executive Producer Phil Hunter:

“Grace is such a joy to make so we are thrilled at how well received series five was. It’s been great to be back in Brighton with our brilliant and talented cast and crew to shoot another four episodes.”

Grace is also a BritBox Original, available on BritBox in North America and Australia. The international distribution is handled by ITV Studios.