Published: December 13, 2024 — Strike – The Ink Black Heart is the sixth (4×60) story of the BBC’s hit crime drama adapted from J.K. Rowling’s best-selling crime novels written under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.

Tom Burke (Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, The Souvenir) as Cormoran Strike and Holliday Grainger (The Capture, Animals) as Robin Ellacott lead a cast of acclaimed British actors including David Westhead (Enola Holmes 2, Bodyguard), Christian McKay (Rivals, Dangerous Liaisons), Emma Fielding (Sanditon, Van der Valk), Tupele Dorgu (The Full Monty, Ridley) and James Nelson-Joyce (Time, Industry) amongst others.

Ruth Sheen (Unforgotten, It’s A Sin) returns as Pat, Strike’s office manager, alongside fellow returning cast members Jack Greenlees (The Trial of Cristine Keeler, Payback) as Sam Barclay, Natasha O’Keeffe (Peaky Blinders, The Wheel of Time) as Charlotte, and Caitlin Innes Edwards (Hanna, Black Mirror: Smithereens) as Isla.

Strike is one of the UK’s most watched dramas, with the most recent instalment: Strike – Troubled Blood – averaging 8.4 million viewers across its run in 2022.

Sue Tully returns to direct, her third time working on the series. Her credits include Strike – Troubled Blood, Too Close, Strike – Lethal White, Line of Duty, Tin Star, The A Word and The Musketeers.

The series is adapted for the screen by writer Tom Edge (Vigil, You Don’t Know Me) who also adapted previous Strike instalments Troubled Blood, The Silkworm, Career of Evil and Lethal White. Jenny van der Lande (Too Close, You Don’t Know Me) is story producer and Alex Rendell returns as producer. Executive producers are J.K. Rowling (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Strike, The Casual Vacancy), Neil Blair (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, The Midwich Cuckoos) and Ruth Kenley-Letts (Stonehouse, Joan) alongside Nick Lambon for the BBC.

SYNOPSIS:

When frantic, dishevelled Edie Ledwell appears in the office begging to speak to her, private detective Robin Ellacott doesn’t know quite what to make of the situation. The co-creator of a popular cartoon, The Ink Black Heart, Edie is being persecuted by a mysterious online figure who goes by the pseudonym of Anomie. Edie is desperate to uncover Anomie’s true identity.

Robin decides that the agency can’t help with this – and thinks nothing more of it until a few days later, when she reads the shocking news that Edie has been tasered and then murdered in Highgate Cemetery, the location of The Ink Black Heart.

Robin and her business partner Cormoran Strike become drawn into the quest to uncover Anomie’s true identity. But with a complex web of online aliases, business interests and family conflicts to navigate, Strike and Robin find themselves embroiled in a case that stretches them to their limit.

The first episode of Strike: The Ink Black Heart will broadcast on Monday (December 16) at 9pm on BBC One, followed by the second episode the next night at the same time (Tuesday, December 17). The final two episodes will air in the same time slot on Monday (December 23) and Tuesday (December 24).

International dates to be released.