Filming under way in Brighton for new season of Grace, Peter James' hugely popular detective series

Earlier this year the second series was the top-viewed programme on successive Sunday nights, much to the delight of Grace creator Peter James who launched the character across a series of hugely-popular novels.

Peter confirmed the latest episodes being made are Dead Like You, Dead Man’s Grip and Not Dead Yet, with filming due to go through until December 5, the episodes being made successively. Returning to the series are John Simm as Roy Grace, Richie Campbell as DS Glenn Branson, Craig Parkinson as DS Norman Potting and Zoe Tapper as Grace’s love interest Cleo. There will even be another little cameo for Peter who earlier this year appeared as a policeman on the beach. This time he's going to be a detective in the detective room.

Peter said: “The idea is that they will be broadcast next spring and then obviously we hope that they will keep making them. The idea is to make four a year which means I'll have to write even more quickly! ”

The 18th Roy grace novel Picture You Dead comes out on September 29: “My followers have certainly upped the viewing figures. The viewing figures were absolutely fantastic. The series had the highest Sunday ratings across all the ratings for every episode, even beating Peaky Blinders. But the point is that you never know. I've had adaptations of my work in the past which were not of the same quality and the numbers were disappointing so you just never know, to be honest, what to expect. But the quality with this is fantastic and people really like the cast. Even the people that were sceptical saying ‘John Simm is not how I imagine Roy Grace’ are now saying that he is right for the part, and people are loving Craig as Norman Potting.”

Coming to the series with success under their belts inevitably changes the psychology for the cast, Peter believes: “John Simm has always said to me that they have a real sense of responsibility and I really love that about the cast. We had lunch together with the cast a couple of months ago, Craig and Zoe and all the key people and they were saying that they were really hoping that they had done me proud and I just found that so respectful and so nice.

“And the interesting thing for me is that I have just finished the first draft of next year’s Roy Grace novel and the difference is that now I have the cast in my mind when I'm writing. Before when I was writing Roy, I had models in my mind but now I'm thinking ‘How would John Simm sit?’ or what would ‘Craig's expression be at this point?”

In a sense, it is changing the dynamic. Peter laughs as he recalls when, during the production of one of his stage plays, one of the actors said: “You must feel like God. We were all in your head and now we're all here in front of you!’ It is a very strange thing but it does also feel like a big responsibility!”