VIDEO: Grace's ITV return dates confirmed - watch Peter James talk to Phil Hewitt/SussexWorld

Amid mounting speculation, Peter James – creator of the Brighton-based Grace detective novels – confirmed the start date for the third season on ITV.

Series 1 (2021) offered two episodes; Series 2 last year offered a further three: Series 3 will offer three more: Dead Like You, Dead Man's Grip and Not Dead Yet, with John Simm reprising his role as Brighton-based Detective Superintendent Roy Grace. The new series will comprise three feature length films (three x 120 mins). Richie Campbell returns as DS Glenn Branson, with Zoë Tapper as Grace’s love interest Cleo Morey and Craig Parkinson as DS Norman Potting. And Peter James really couldn’t be happier – with the way the series has been made and with the response that it has drawn.

“I couldn’t be more delighted, about just the sheer quality of the production of Grace but also I'm so pleased I waited. We've been talking for a decade, if not longer, about when Grace was coming to the screen and I've always pulled back because I wasn't happy with how it was going. It could have happened sooner but I didn't like the scripts or I didn't like the attitude of the production. But now what we have got is an absolute dream team. John Simm is not just one of the nicest people I've ever met in my life, but he really took Grace to his heart.”

As Peter says, actors often focus on their own lines and don’t see the bigger picture. Not Simm: “The first thing he did before he even shot a frame was read every single Roy Grace book to understand the character and he talked to me endlessly about it and to my real life Roy Grace, (former detective chief superintendent) Dave Gaylor.”

Crucially, Simm completely nails the empathy that Peter sees as so key to the character: “I always say slightly in jest if I was ever unlucky enough to have a member of my family murdered Roy Grace is the detective I'd want running the investigation because he's super smart but also because what John brings over so much is the warmth. Similarly Richie Campbell who plays Glenn Branson has taken such a deep interest in it and I think one of the really lucky things is that John Simm and Richie really like each other. You've got that chemistry which is vital and also I think Zoë Tapper as Grace's love interest Cleo is just magic too. She is not only a delightful person, she's got that crucial warmth and you really believe John and she are lovers.

“ITV made a very smart decision in bringing in a producer who lived in Brighton because I do think that in crime fiction particularly the town or the city is as much a character as the human characters, and here Brighton has such a character of its own. And now with the advent of drone footage they're getting these extraordinary lyrical shots of Brighton looking so stunningly beautiful and then you kind of go into the darkness under the surface. That sense of Brighton really does come across doesn't it.”