Grace cast say repercussions of Sandy mystery impact show for a long time

Since the very first episode of the show, Roy has been plagued by the disappearance of his wife Sandy.

However, in the season 4 finale, he found out she was in a hospital in Germany, where she later took her own life.

In a letter left for Roy, she revealed he had a son named Bruno, with Sandy asking Roy to look after him.

This may have seemed like the end of the Sandy mystery - however, the show's cast have now revealed that her impact will continue to be felt on the show.

John Simm explained: "I was kind of torn with it, really. Because I realised the audience... we can't string them along forever about the Sandy thing. And it has been going on through the whole series, so it had to reach a conclusion, and they needed answers.

"But on the other hand, I really liked it.

"It was a kind of spectre hanging over his head. That was his thing. He was the detective with the missing wife, and he couldn't solve it. So now that that's gone, that jeopardy in his life has gone, I was kind of worried.

"We can't just have a blissfully happy detective who's not an alcoholic, and he's really good at his job, and he's a pretty nice guy, and he's completely in love, and everything's fine.

"So I was kind of worried that that was going to be exposed a little bit. But actually, with the mind of Peter James, there's plenty of jeopardy for Roy Grace. So I needn't have been worried."

Glenn star Richie Campbell added: "We’ve just gone from one frying pan into another. It's like, 'OK, we've gone over the Sandy thing, and we've lived with it,' and it's like, 'Fine, we can breathe.'

"And then bam, straight away, we're into another frying pan, which is fantastic."

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Meanwhile, Cleo star Zoë Tapper said: "I have a feeling that Sandy is always going to be there in one form or another, and yeah, she's going to live on through Bruno.

"And they can't ignore that, because he's obviously in a really traumatised state as well. He's lost his mother, and they've got a duty to him to keep her memory alive and to try and sort of guide him through that.

"So yes, I think maybe physically Sandy's not there, but she's certainly going to have an ongoing consequence throughout their lives, I think."

Simm concurred that "the repercussions of what happened to Sandy do carry on", saying they "inform many, many episodes to come, when we actually find out what she was involved in and the reality of the situation she was in".

"That is certainly not over," he said. "There's a lot to unravel about that."

Peter James, the author of Grace books, said: "Absolutely, John. I mean, in One of Us Is Dead, which is the 20th book in the series, there's still repercussions there. There's one of my favourite scenes I've written, actually, which is all about Sandy."

Of course, when the cast talk about long-running repercussions, they don't necessarily just mean in season 5 - season 6 has already been commissioned, meaning there are plenty more cases for Roy and Glenn to solve in Brighton.

Grace season 5 will air this spring with seasons 1-4 available to stream on ITVX.

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