Professor T: release date, cast, plot and latest news about new ITV series
Everything we know about the new ITV drama, based on the Belgian crime drama of the same name.
Channel 4's new crime drama Professor T airs its final episode on Sunday, rounding off the six-part series starring Death in Paradise's Ben Miller.
The actor and comedian leads the starry cast as Jasper Tempest, a Cambridge lecturer who solves crimes in his spare time – Miller has compared his character to both Sherlock Holmes and Dexter – alongside a slate of impressive actors, from Frances de la Tour to Juliet Aubrey.
Frances de la Tour discussed her role in Professor T in an exclusive chat with RadioTimes.com, during which she described her character Adelaide (Jasper's overbearing mother) as "a wonderful character, because... well, she's monstrous, really! Which also makes her very funny."
She continued, "The character of Professor T himself is astonishingly complex, so the mother and the son is a powerful relationship. I mean, they're very dependent on each other and love each other, and fight each other. So the part did offer a lot of avenues to explore and to enjoy."
Based on a Belgian show of the same name, the six-part series is executive produced by Walter Iuzzolino of Walter Presents and follows the fastidious academic as he's enlisted by Cambridge police to help in various murder investigations.
Other key members of the Professor T cast are Emma Naomi, who plays police detective and Jasper's former pupil Lisa Donckers; Barney White, who's Lisa's supportive police sidekick Dan Winters; and Andy Gathergood as Paul Rabbit – a senior office who has lost his way after a personal tragedy.
Here's everything we know about Professor T so far.
Professor T release date
Professor T started on Sunday 18th July at 9pm on ITV, and concludes Sunday 22nd August at the same time.
Professor T previously launched exclusively on BritBox on 3rd June 2021.
Filming for Professor T started in Belgium and Cambridge in the summer of 2020.
Professor T cast
Ben Miller plays the titular Professor T. Seeing as he once gave up studying a PhD in Physics at Cambridge to pursue comedy, a return to the institution, albeit a fictional version, represents something of a full-circle moment.
Miller has spoken of how excited he is to portray the titular character, saying: "Professor T has it all: intriguing murders, dreaming spires, and a cast of unforgettable characters, each with their own fascinating secrets.
"You don’t have to be a professor of criminal psychology to know the ITV audience will love it."
Frances de la Tour (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, The History Boys, Rising Damp) portrays Adelaide, the Professor's mother, whose colourful presence in her son's life can be somewhat smothering.
Also part of the project is Emma Naomi (Blithe Spirit) as Detective Inspector Lisa Donckers as well as Barney White, who'll play her police sidekick Dan Winters.
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Professor T trailer
ITV released a short 30-second trailer for the series in July, shortly before the series debut, which introduced us to Ben Miller as the titular criminologist.
In the clip, Professor T says, "Crime is inherently traumatic. A narrow snapshot of the event encodes onto the brain. Within seconds this memory starts to become contaminated – once contaminated it can destroy everything."
Professor T plot
The six-part crime drama will focus on Professor Jasper Tempest, a genius Cambridge University criminologist with OCD, who unwittingly becomes an advisor to the police.
The opening episode will show the Professor begrudgingly caught up in a police investigation when Diana Tyson (Elizabeth Kate Back) is attacked on the university campus.
Noticing that the attack is very similar to one that occurred years beforehand, DI Lisa Donckers' suspicions are raised, and she reckons that the Professor is just the man to crack the case. Despite being a potentially valuable contributor to the police force, people who don’t know him very well struggle with his behaviour, and Donckers' idea to get him on board won't be universally popular.
Furthermore, with Professor T being prone to daydreaming, having no interest in crime outside of his studies and having an overbearing mother in tow, the journey to solving the mysteries will be far from simple.
Take a look at our other Drama coverage, or find out what else is on with our TV Guide.
