The actor, who is perhaps best known for his roles in BBC drama Bloodlands and Netflix’s Stay Close, previously admitted the script was “very, very bleak.”
He told Radio Times: “I read it and wished I hadn’t because I thought, ‘I’m going to have to do this.'"
The seasoned actor admitted: “Unquestioningly, it’s very, very bleak.”
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However, from the moment Nesbitt picked up the script he "could relate to Danny, with his flaws, vulnerabilities and the devastating situation he faces".
Nesbitt continued: "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, and I really can't wait to lock horns with my fellow cast members and to lead this incredible array of acting talent."
With a suspect focused on each episode, Nesbitt’s character interviews them about their role in his daughter’s death.
The stellar cast is rounded out by Joely Richardson, Anne-Marie Duff and Richard E. Grant.
Read on for everything you need to know about Suspect on Channel 4.
Suspect channel 4 release date
Suspect kicked off at 9pm on Sunday 19th June on Channel 4.
The series is made up of eight episodes, each lasting half an hour.
Channel 4 will air two episodes back to back nightly, meaning we'll get episodes one and two on Sunday, three and four on Monday, five and six on Tuesday and seven and eight on Wednesday.
Who stars in Suspect alongside James Nesbitt?
The cast for Suspect is absolutely stacked with A-listers, with stars from Doctor Who, Outlander, Death in Paradise and Loki taking on key roles alongside Nesbitt. Find the full cast list for the series below:
- James Nesbitt - Danny Frater
- Joely Richardson - Jackie
- Anne-Marie Duff - Susannah
- Richard E. Grant - Harry
- Ben Miller - Richard
- Niamh Algar - Nicola
- Antonia Thomas - Maia
- Sacha Dhawan - Jaisal
- Sam Heughan - Ryan
- Imogen King - Christina
What is Suspect about?
The official synopsis for the eight-part series says that it follows veteran detective, Danny Frater (Nesbitt), who turns up at a hospital mortuary for what he thinks is a routine ID check on a young woman’s body, but gets a devastating shock when the corpse turns out to be his estranged daughter, Christina (Imogen King).
The synopsis continues: "Danny is traumatised by the news that according to the post-mortem report, she’s taken her own life. Danny and Christina had a complicated father-daughter relationship in recent years, but he refuses to accept that she would have ended her own life. He sets out on a mission for the truth, retracing her last days and hours, in an agonising crusade to discover what really happened to his only child."
What follows is a series of intense exchanges between Frater and those closest to Christina, with each episode taking the form of a two-hander. Frater speaks to Christina's partner Nicola (Niamh Algar), her best friend Maia (Antonia Thomas), her business partner Jaisal (Sacha Dhawan), her godfather Ryan (Sam Heughan), her mentor Harry (Richard E Grant) and her mother Susannah (Anne-Marie Duff).
The synopsis says that through these discussions "Danny learns about his daughter’s descent into delinquency. He is forced to confront his own failings as a father whilst struggling to make sense of a mass of contradictory testimony and circumstantial evidence, and he must decide who, if anyone, is responsible for Christina’s death and what he’s going to do about it."
Suspect trailer
You can watch the intense trailer for Suspect right now, which sees Nesbitt insisting that Christina must have been murdered and interviewing the suspects, below.
In it, Nesbitt's Danny delivers the ominous line: "I've got nothing to lose so I'll keep digging till I find something. And when I do find that one little thread I'll pull, until the whole shebang unravels."
Count us intrigued.
Suspect began airing on Channel 4 at 9pm on Sunday 19th June 2022, with two new episodes airing nightly until Wednesday 22nd June 2022. Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide to see what’s on tonight.
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