DARK DEEDS

Meet TV’s new detective Helen Weeks, who heads back to her hated home town to hunt a murderer in BBC1 whodunnit In The Dark

For one senior murder detective it’s an open and shut case. Stephen Bates picked up teenager Abigail Toms in his car on the night she went missing and a cigarette found close to her body is of the brand he smokes.

That means the case is pretty much solved as far as DI Tim Cornish is concerned. He’s convinced that DNA tests will tie Bates to the murder of the popular Abigail and to the disappearance of Poppy Johnston, who went missing from the same town, Polesford in Derbyshire.

But other characters in BBC1’s intriguing new whodunnit, In The Dark, remain sceptical. DI Helen Weeks can’t understand why, 21 days after her disappearance, Abigail’s body has only just been found in woodland frequented by dog walkers. And is DI Cornish just a little too keen to convict Stephen Bates? ‘He’s got one of those smug faces,’ says Cornish, betraying his dislike of his suspect.

The brooding two-parter is the first of two stories adapted from the crime novels of Mark Billingham and featuring complicated crime cracker Helen. The Manchester-based detective is drawn back to Polesford, the home town she loathes, to support her childhood best friend Linda, the wife of Stephen Bates.

‘The case is nothing to do with her but she feels she can help Linda by being by her side while she’s being interviewed by the police,’ explains MyAnna Buring, the Ripper Street star who plays Helen. ‘She also has a detective’s interest in the case of the missing girls.

‘Her boss is uncomfortable about her getting involved, but she reveals to him that she’s pregnant and is going back to Polesford anyway to tell her father the happy news. That swings it for her.’

Helen’s return to Polesford isn’t wel- comed by all. Taxi driver Gavin acts nervously in front of her and her police officer boyfriend Paul. Later, Helen finds Gavin’s taxi abandoned and sees him running through woods near where Abigail’s body was found. Could Gavin have something to hide?

‘Helen’s also dealing with personal issues,’ says MyAnna. ‘She claims to have left Polesford after her mother’s death and thrown herself into her career in Manchester to hide her grief but there are other reasons why she left and which partly explain her return.

‘She’s haunted by her past and sees visions of herself as a little girl when she returns to Polesford. Helen’s also concerned about the identity of her unborn child’s father. It’s either Paul or someone else with whom she had a brief affair.

‘Helen’s pregnancy is also crucial to the second two-part story, which is

set in Manchester and concerns a gangland murder. She feels a duty to solve the two cases and somehow make the world a better place for her child. Both investigations end up pushing her to the limit.’

A stable relationship might help but Helen doesn’t have that. Ben Batt, who plays Paul, says, ‘He’s initially supportive of Helen and even asks his forensic pathologist friend Phil Hen- dricks to take a view on the case of Stephen Bates in order to help her. But neither Paul nor his relationship with Helen are all they appear to be.

‘In fact Paul’s whole world changes and what he thought he had could be taken away from him. He goes on quite a journey and it’s not necessarily a happy and fulfilling one.’

BABY BLUES MyAnna Buring became pregnant for real after filming ended but didn’t enjoy playing a mum-tobe. ‘The baby bump I had to wear was hot, heavy and sweaty – not a feeling I wanted to emulate,’ she says.