Strike (BBC) con Tom Burke e Holliday Grainger

Holliday Grainger – an actress who’s name sounds like someone trying to say “Hermione Granger” after too many butterbeers– will be starring in JK Rowling’s upcoming BBC show The Strike Series.
But this isn’t anything to do with Harry Potter: Grainger (Lady Chatterley's Lover, Cinderella) will star as one of the leads in the adaptation of the crime novels Rowling wrote under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.
Grainger will play Robin Ellacott, the competent secretary of Cormoran Strike, a depressed and down-on-his-luck private investigator, portrayed by Tom Burke (Dolokhov from BBC’s War & Peace). Expect a series less in line with chummy Philosopher’s Stone and more with gritty drama The Casual Vacancy, a Rowling novel that was adapted for TV last year.

After the BBC’s success in bringing J.K. Rowling’s first novel aimed as adults, The Casual Vacancy, to screen last year, it was only a matter of time before they decided to bring her other novels aimed at an adult readership to the small screen. The Comoran Strike novels may be written under the pen name Robert Galbraith, but at this point most people know she’s the author behind them, so it wasn’t a surprising when the BBC mentioned them as part of their long term discussions for the 2016-2017 season last fall.

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According to their report, it is slated for filming in London, and the start date given is this coming fall.

The lengthy shoot will be delivered as 7 x 60 episodes, incorporating three of the books in the series of novels about the eponymous injured war veteran turned private investigator Strike and his assistant Robin as they investigate crimes in the capital’s murky underbelly. Sarah Phelps, who worked on Rowling’s The Casual Vacancy for BBC One, is on writing duties along with Ben Richards. Rowling executive produces alongside Ruth Kenley-Letts and Neil Blair, her agent and founder of The Blair Partnership.
With production officially slated to begin in only a few short months, we can begin to look forward to casting announcements for Cormoran, Robin and those involved in their case load in the coming weeks.

Filming of three detective books by Robert Galbraith (actually JK Rowling, of course), The Cuckoo’s Calling, The Silkworm and Career of Evil, will begin this autumn as The Cormoran Strike Mysteries. I gather that Tom Burke, last seen as the nasty Dolokhov in War & Peace, will play the Afghan vet turned private ’tec.

British actor Tom Burke has been cast to star in the “Cormoran Strike” crime-drama TV series for the BBC, based on novels written by Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.

The series, set to air on flagship channel BBC One, consists of three-parter “The Cuckoo’s Calling,” two-parter “The Silkworm” and two-parter “Career of Evil.” Each episode will last an hour. They will be produced as three separate event dramas and are set to begin shooting this fall in London. Rowling’s company Brontë Film & TV is producing.


Burke, who most recently starred in BBC’s epic “War & Peace” as Fedor Dolokhov and in “The Musketeers” as Athos, will play Cormoran Strike, a war veteran-turned-private detective operating out of a tiny office in Central London. Though he’s wounded both physically and psychologically, Strike’s insight and background as a military police detective prove crucial in solving three complex cases that have confounded the police.


“I’m overjoyed to be immersing myself in the role of Cormoran Strike, who is as complex as he is larger than life,” Burke said in a statement. “I know I’m joining an extraordinary team of people on a series that for me is peppered with moments of real emotional depth and meticulously grounded in the page-turning momentum of these novels. Cormoran’s world is rich and raw.”

“I’m thrilled about the casting of Tom Burke, a massively talented actor who’ll bring the character to perfect life,” Rowling said. “Cormoran Strike is pure joy to write, and I can’t wait to see Tom play him.”

British actress Holliday Grainger is set as the female lead opposite Tom Burke in Cormoran Strike, BBC One’s high-profile new limited series based on J.K. Rowling’s bestselling crime novels, written under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.

Cormoran Strike centers on Strike (Burke), a war veteran turned private detective operating out of a tiny office in London’s Denmark Street. Though he’s wounded both physically and psychologically, Strike’s unique insight and his background as an SIB Investigator prove crucial in solving three complex cases which have eluded the police. Grainger will play Robin Venetia Ellacott, Strike’s assistant and secretary.