Producer Alex Rendell Talks About BBC’s Strike: Troubled Blood

Back To The Past

Strike: Troubled Blood, the latest adaptation of Robert Galbraith’s detective novels, began Sunday on BBC and BBC iPlayer and here’s its producer Alex Rendell talking about the new story…

Where do we start at the beginning of Troubled Blood?

To begin with Strike is approached by a woman called Anna Phipps who is looking to find out what happened to her mother. Her mother Margot was a doctor, and she went missing in 1974. She left her surgery to go and meet a friend in Clerkenwell, round the corner, at The Three Kings pub and she never arrived. Strike and Robin try and find out what happened to her. So, that’s the short version! They also discover that one of the detectives that worked on the case is the father of George Layborn, who we meet in Lethal White. They work their way through the case, meeting Margot’s old friends, who recount stories around her disappearance.

You’re having to switch between the contemporary story in the world of Strike that we know and go to flashback to tell this cold case 40 years ago. As a production how do you tackle that?

With a lot of relish actually. It was a lot of fun! In the 4 episodes, there’s quite a lot of flashback to the 1960s and 70s, so it gave production design, and costume and makeup a lot to get their teeth into. We’ve got characters who we see in the present and in the past, so for casting that was very interesting.

We’ve been closely following Strike and Robin’s journey and relationship. What’s new in this series?

There’s an element of continuation from previous series but in this series both go through parallel emotional journeys. Robin is dealing with her impending divorce, she’s also running the office while Strike is away and she’s got some new staff that she has do deal with, which is quite taxing at times. Strike is dealing with his very ill Aunt, so there’s an emotional squeeze on him there. His estranged father Jonny Rokeby is also trying to contact him, so there’s an emotional vice on Strike and some cracks start appearing.

How much does Cornwall play a part as a character in the series?

Well, a lot. Certainly fans of the books will know Cornwall because it’s been mentioned in previous books but has never made it to the screen. So, finally we managed to get into Strike’s family life, which is very important and precipitates Strike’s memories of his childhood. It was a wonderful place to film.

The office on Denmark Street is key location for Strike. How tough is it to film in the centre of Soho?

Shooting in the centre of London is increasingly difficult but it’s like Strike’s overcoat, it’s iconic and an important part of the show. There’s also some irony, his dad is a rock’n’roller who he’s estranged from and Strike works in Denmark Street AKA “Guitar Alley”.

Do you think taking Strike back to Cornwall helps us to understand him a bit more?

Definitely. There is some fantastic moments in the script, some great scenes with Strike and his Aunt, which makes you realise how much Strike has lived on his own.  It dawned on me that he was in the army and he became a private investigator and of course, he can sort of hide in London, he can be anonymous and he can keep his head down, but going back to Cornwall has forced him to have kind of relationships and contact with family that he’s probably shied away from. And although he gets on with his sister for instance, [Sarah Sweeney returns as his half-sister Lucy], he’s not very good at keeping in contact with them. So going to Cornwall, forces Strike to deal with things that on a day-to-day basis he doesn’t like thinking about. Tom Burke has done some fantastic work in this series.

What do you think audiences are going be excited about with this series?

I think there’s a cracking case and because it’s a cold case it opens up this whole world of the 1960s and 70s, which is exciting. We get out of London for some of the series and there’s a rich emotional journey for both of them. And we see, particularly a side of Strike that we’ve not really seen in the series before.