Traces (TV series)

Traces is a British television crime drama produced by Red Production Company (a StudioCanal company). Co-created and written by Val McDermid and Amelia Bullmore, and based upon an original idea by McDermid, it originally premiered on Alibi on 9 December 2019. The series was rerun on BBC One on 4 January 2021 and Series One began repeating on Drama on 15 January 2022,^[1] A second six-episode series was released in February 2022.^[2][3][4] and was shown on BBC One from 30 March 2024.^[5][6]

Traces
Genre	Crime drama
Created by	Val McDermid Amelia Bullmore
Written by	Amelia Bullmore Val McDermid
Directed by	Mary Nighy Rebecca Gatward
Starring	Molly Windsor Laura Fraser Jennifer Spence Martin Compston Michael Nardone John Gordon Sinclair
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	2
No. of episodes	12
Production
Executive producers	Philippa Collie Cousins Michaela Fereday
Producer	Juliet Charlesworth
Running time	45 minutes
Original release
Network	Alibi
Release	9 December 2019 (2019-12-09) – 22 March 2022 (2022-03-22)

Synopsis

Traces focuses on three female forensic professionals, Emma Hedges, Sarah Gordon and Kathy Torrance, working together at the fictional Scottish Institute of Forensic Science and Anatomy (SIFA) at the fictional University of Tayside in Dundee, Scotland, as they uncover the truth of a murder case and bring a killer to justice.

Cast

In the first series, the cast was as follows:^[7]

• Molly Windsor^[8] as Emma Hedges, a lab technician who has moved back to her birthplace of Dundee, for her new job, and in search of answers about her mother's murder.
• Laura Fraser^[9][10] as Professor Sarah Gordon, professor of Chemistry at the University of Tayside and Emma's new boss at SIFA.
• Jennifer Spence^[11] as Professor Kathy Torrence, a professor of forensic anthropology at the University of Tayside and a colleague at SIFA.
• Martin Compston^[12] as Daniel MacAfee, director of a construction company and romantic interest of Emma.
• Vincent Regan^[13] as Phil MacAfee, Daniel's father and former director of MacAfee Construction.
• Michael Nardone^[14] as Detective Inspector Neil McKinven, a friend of Professor Gordon who has insight on the Marie Monroe case.
• Phil McKee as Jimmy Levin, husband of Marie Monroe and Emma's stepfather.
• John Gordon Sinclair^[15] as Drew Cubbin, Emma's father and ex-partner of Marie Monroe.
• Morayo Akandé as Detective Constable Trina Adeboyo, colleague of DI McKinven at Police Scotland.
• Jamie Marie Leary as Skye Alessi, Emma's childhood best friend.
• Carly Anderson as Marie Monroe, Emma's mother who was murdered in 2001, and whose case remains unsolved.
• Laurie Brett^[16] as Izzy Alessi, best friend of Marie Monroe, and mother to Emma's childhood best friend Skye.
• Joana Borja as Dr Pia Salvador, forensic scientist and love interest of Professor Torrence.
• Andrea Hart as Janine Muir, SIFA's receptionist.
• Anna Leong Brophy as Louise Chiu Jones, chemist and Emma's colleague at SIFA who works alongside her in the lab.
• Neve McIntosh as Julie Hedges, Emma's maternal aunt, who adopted her after the murder of her mother and took her to Manchester.
• Janey Godley as Clare Tindall, a criminal defence lawyer who represents Daniel.

Production

Traces is set in and around Dundee, but the majority of the series was filmed in Bolton, England.^[17][18] The theme tune is a cover of Nina Simone's "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" by Valerie Broussard.^[19]

Episodes

Series overview

Series	Episodes		Originally aired
			First aired	Last aired
1	6		9 December 2019 (2019-12-09)	24 December 2019 (2019-12-24)
2	6		15 February 2022 (2022-02-15)	22 March 2022 (2022-03-22)

Series 1 (2019)

No. overall	No. in series	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	UK viewers (millions) [20]
1	1	"Episode 1"	Mary Nighy	Amelia Bullmore	9 December 2019 (2019-12-09)	1.00
2	2	"Episode 2"	Mary Nighy	Amelia Bullmore	10 December 2019 (2019-12-10)	0.89
3	3	"Episode 3"	Mary Nighy	Amelia Bullmore	16 December 2019 (2019-12-16)	0.84
4	4	"Episode 4"	Mary Nighy	Amelia Bullmore	17 December 2019 (2019-12-17)	0.79
5	5	"Episode 5"	Mary Nighy	Amelia Bullmore	23 December 2019 (2019-12-23)	0.81
6	6	"Episode 6"	Mary Nighy	Amelia Bullmore	24 December 2019 (2019-12-24)	0.83

Series 2 (2022)

No. overall	No. in series	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	UK viewers (millions)
7	1	"Episode 1"	Chris Foggin	Amelia Bullmore	15 February 2022 (2022-02-15)[21]	N/A
8	2	"Episode 2"	Chris Foggin	Amelia Bullmore	22 February 2022 (2022-02-22)	N/A
9	3	"Episode 3"	Chris Foggin	Jess Williams	1 March 2022 (2022-03-01)	N/A
10	4	"Episode 4"	Chris Foggin	Jess Williams	8 March 2022 (2022-03-08)	N/A
11	5	"Episode 5"	N/A	Amelia Bullmore	15 March 2022 (2022-03-15)	N/A
12	6	"Episode 6"	N/A	Amelia Bullmore	22 March 2022 (2022-03-22)	N/A

Critical reception

Stuart Heritage reviewing on behalf of The Guardian rated the series three out of five, and whilst acknowledging the series is loaded with talent, said "this is what happens when TV runs out of new shows".^[22] The Times awarded the series two out of five, with Carol Midgley saying that "the biggest crime here so far is a lack of flavour".^[23]

References

1. "Traces". DRAMA. UKTV. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
2. "Alibi Renews 'Traces' For Second Season". TV Wise. 28 September 2020. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
3. "Will Traces Return For Series 2?". Bustle. 19 January 2021. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
4. @alibi_channel (10 December 2021). "This just in! #Traces Series 2 will be on your screens in February 2022, with returning cast: @martin_compston,…" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
5. Hibbs, James (30 March 2024). "Traces season 2: Release date and latest news". Radio Times. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
6. "BBC One - Traces". BBC. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
7. "Meet the cast of BBC forensics drama Traces, 6 January 2021". Radio Times. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
8. "Traces: Molly Windsor interview". Alibi. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
9. "Laura Fraser says female-led TV shows like Traces are "still really rare", 4 January 2021". Radio Times. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
10. "Traces: Laura Fraser interview". Alibi. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
11. "Traces: Jennifer Spence interview". Alibi. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
12. "Martin Compston says his Traces character is a "contrast" to Line of Duty's Steve Arnott, 4 January 2021". Radio Times. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
13. "Traces: Vincent Regan interview". Alibi. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
14. "Traces: Michael Nardone interview". Alibi. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
15. "Traces: John Gordon Sinclair interview". Alibi. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
16. "Traces: Laurie Brett interview". Alibi. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
17. "Where is Traces filmed? Dundee filming locations for BBC One drama series with Martin Compston, 4 January 2021". i (newspaper). Retrieved 22 January 2021.
18. "Dramatic scenes shot in Bolton open tonight's episode of gripping series". The Bolton News. 6 April 2024. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
19. "Traces theme song: Explore the artist, songs and soundtrack of BBC Crime Drama". HITC. 5 January 2021. Retrieved 1 November 2021.
20. "BARB 7-Day viewing data". BARB.
21. Darvill, Josh (19 January 2022). "Traces series 2 release date and cast revealed as hit drama returns to Alibi". Tellymix. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
22. "Traces review - this is what happens when TV runs out of new shows, 4 January 2021". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
23. "Traces review - the biggest crime here so far is a lack of flavour, 5 January 2021". The Times. Retrieved 22 January 2021.

External links

• Traces at BBC Online
• Traces at IMDb