Suspect season 2 release date, cast, plot: What we know about the C4 crime drama
A BRAND new series of Suspect is coming to a television screen near you soon, following on from the events in the first nail-biting season.
The all-star crime thriller is an adaptation of the original Danish series Forhøret — here’s everything you need to know.
What is Suspect season 2 about?
In the second season, Danny’s (James Nesbitt) ex-wife Susannah (Anne-Marie Duff) takes the reins as she continues the search for their daughter.
The first episode sees a mysterious client makes a shock confession, with Susannah embarking on a dangerous mission.
Suspecting that he’s hiding secrets, Susannah locks horns with her ex-lover Richard (Ben Miller) and his wife Natasha (Tamsin Greig).
Susannah speaks to a hostile ex-client named Louisa, but as she begins to open up, it becomes clear that they are both in grave danger.
Susannah makes a shocking discovery at the psychiatric hospital where Danny’s incarcerated — could Dr Underwood (Eddie Marsan) be hiding something?
Next Susannah learns some devastating truths about her daughter’s death. The discoveries lead her to to a terrifying realisation about the next target.
Finding herself in imminent danger, Susannah seeks the help of ex-client Joseph (Nicholas Pinnock), as her search for the truth becomes more and more desperate.
Susannah tracks Sapphire’s (Celine Buckens) location but is shocked by what she uncovers.
And in the series finale, Susannah makes a disturbing discovery and comes face-to-face with a monster, and a gripping showdown ensues.
What happened in season 1 of Suspect?
The first series of Suspect is an adaptation of the original Danish series Forhøret by Christoffer Boe and Miso Film, which first aired in June 2022.
The show follows veteran detective, Danny Frater (James Nesbitt), who turns up at a hospital mortuary for a routine ID check on a young woman’s body, only to discover it’s his estranged daughter, Christina.
Traumatised by the news that she’s taken her own life, he sets out on a mission to find out the truth.
Danny retraces Christina’s steps during her last days and hours in an agonising crusade to discover what really happened to his only child — they’d had a complicated father-daughter relationship in recent years.
Despite all of the evidence in the post-mortem examination pointing to it, he still refuses to accept that she would have ended her own life.
The drama’s cast features James Nesbitt as Danny, Joely Richardson as pathologist Jackie and Anne-Marie Duff as Danny’s ex-wife Susannah.
They are joined by Richard E. Grant and Ben Miller.
[The second season] has a real female energy as it’s about a mother who is trying to reveal the truth. It’s thrilling but also profoundly moving and fascinating
Anne-Marie Duff
Each episode is half an hour long and features a different character as Danny tries to unravel the truth about his daughter’s death.
Each episode’s title is a character’s name: Danny, Susannah, Harry, Ryan, Jaisal, Maia, Nicola and Jackie.
Nesbitt told Channel 4: “I could relate to Danny, with his flaws, vulnerabilities and the devastating situation he faces, from the very first moment I picked up the script.
“Each episode of Suspect is an intensely theatrical double-hander, a psychological battle of wits between Danny and another character who may know something about his daughter’s untimely death.”
Who stars in Suspect season 2?
Anne-Marie Duff
Anne-Marie Duff first rose to fame on Channel 4’s comedy-drama classic Shameless.
Her role as Elizabeth in BBC’s The Virgin Queen in 2006 earned her critical acclaim, including another Bafta nomination for Best Actress.
She also starred as the mother of Sex Education‘s central character Maeve.
Speaking about the new series, she said: “It’s definitely a continuation from series one.
“It expects you to come to the table having known the previous circumstances, but it has a different flavour to series one and a different energy because it’s someone who is outside of the legal system trying to uncover a crime.
“It has a real female energy as it’s about a mother who is trying to reveal the truth. It’s thrilling but also profoundly moving and fascinating.”
Dominic Cooper
Dominic Cooper rose to fame when he starred in The History Boys in 2006.
The role followed a string of smaller parts in films including Agatha Christie adaptation Sparkling Cyanide(2003), Breakfast On Pluto (2005) and Starter For 10 (2006).
His turn as Oxford University hopeful Dakin, who took extra history lessons with eccentric suspected paedophile teacher Hector, opened doors to blockbuster roles.
He played Howard Stark in Marvel’s Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) and Agent Carter (2015-16).
Dominic also took on the role of Milton Greene in My Week With Marilyn (2011), as well as Jesse Custer in Preacher (2016-19), not to mention playing Sky in the hilarious movie musical Mamma Mia! (2008) and the sequel Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018).
Speaking about what attracted him to the role, Dominic said: “Primarily the script. And I’ve always wanted to work with Anne-Marie Duff, having known her for years.
“I watched the last series and the way the episodes are constructed as these intimate ‘duologues’, they’re almost play-like. It was unlike anything else I’d read.”
Tamsin Greig
Tamsin Greig is a 58-year-old British stage and screen actress, who was born in Kent and raised in London.
She found fame through Dylan Moran’s sitcom Black Books, in which she played shopkeeper Fran Katzenjammer for three series, starting in 2000.
But she began her acting career in BBC Radio 4 drama The Archers from 1991, playing Debbie Aldridge.
Tamsin met her husband Richard Leaf while working on the movie of Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere in 1996.
After Black Books, Tamsin was cast as Dr Caroline Todd in Green Wing (2004-6) — the first show she worked on with longtime collaborator Stephen Mangan.
She then appeared in telly dramas Love Soup (2005-8), The Diary Of Anne Frank (2009), Emma and Terry Pratchett’s Going Postal (2010).
In 2011 she worked with Mangan again, alongside with Friends star Matt LeBlanc, playing himself, on the sitcom Episodes.
The fifth and final series of Episodes ended in the UK on May 11, 2018.
She also starred as Jackie in the popular Channel 4 sitcom Friday Night Dinner (2011-20).
Tamsin said of her role in Suspect: “I play a character called Natasha, who is a high-end corporate lawyer who had worked for the CPS, the Crown Prosecution Service, and has given that up in order to make a name for herself as someone at the highest level of the legal system, but also within the corporate world.
“She’s elegant and at the top of her game, she enjoys money and likes being in environments that have money attached to them.”
Ben Miller
Born on February 24, 1966, Ben Miller started his acting career by starring in Channel 4’s television series Armstrong and Miller, which ran for four series from 1997 to 2001.
He was the original detective featured in popular BBC drama Death In Paradise, playing DI Richard Poole.
In 2020, Miller played the role of Lord Featherington in the hugely popular Netflix period drama Bridgerton.
In 2021, the actor starred as Cambridge lecturer and detective Jasper Tempest in the six-part crime drama Professor T.
Speaking about what drew him to Suspect, Ben said: “I just find it a really exciting show.
“I love thrillers and this is about as thrilling as it gets. There’s a sort of ever widening circle of light revealing more and more intrigue.
“I really like the structure of it from an acting point of view. It’s very unusual the way that it’s shot. It’s shot in very long takes with this sort of long, in depth two hander scenes.
“You can really dig into the psychology. It’s very much digging into the psychology of the characters.
Other cast members
- Eddie Marsan – Dr Alistair Underwood
- Celine Buckens — Sapphire
- Nicholas Pinnock – Joseph Buckley
- Gina McGee – Kate
When is Suspect season 2 out?
Season 2 of Suspect premieres on Wednesday, July 17.
The first two episodes air back-to-back, with the third and fourth following in the same time slot on Thursday, July 18.
It is understood that the remaining four episodes will be released the subsequent week — on Wednesday, July 24 and Thursday, July 25.
How to watch Suspect season 2?
You can the first double bill from 9pm on Wednesday, July 17.
They will be broadcast consecutively on Channel 4.
Fear not if you miss any of the shows, you can catch them after they air on the channel’s streaming service All 4.