Strike and Ellacott stars tease almost-kiss in Ink Black Heart: "A spectacular moment of mistiming"

Speaking to Radio Times magazine, the actors confirmed that there will actually be an especially close-call for the pair in this new season.

Burke explained: "They’re having dinner and their guard is down because they’re not in the middle of a case, and they’re both a bit tipsy as well.

"Something nearly happens; it’s a spectacular moment of mistiming. Consequently, they retreat from it."

Speaking about their feelings for each other, Grainger said: "Their relationship is so complicated and there’s a real fear of stepping over the line and there being a sense of no return.

"It’s written so well in the book, the breakdown of thoughts Robin has, of not knowing if he’s going to regret it in the morning, if he’s drunk a bit too much, or if this is not the right thing for him, and what it would mean for their business. It’s only afterwards that she’s like, ‘Oh, that could have been something, maybe I was overthinking it’.

"That moment makes her realise how she feels towards him properly for the first time, I think. But in that moment there’s also fear of rejection, and of losing what they have, which is friendship. Robin has very few close friends, which is a big element."

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Burke added: "It’s that moment that can happen sometimes where the lights go down and the candles are lit and the whole world feels very different. And it’s like, why the hell not? But there’s a fear of messing it up.

"That’s a big thing that pulls you into the show, because I think people have friendships like this a lot, where it’s on a precipice of becoming something else and you think, let’s keep it in the sweet spot, because this could all go horribly wrong."

The new series is the BBC's sixth adaptation of one of the books by Robert Galbraith, AKA JK Rowling, and will find the leading pair stretched to their limit.

The official synopsis for season 6 says: "When frantic, desperate 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 informs Edie that the agency is too busy to take on her case and thinks nothing more of it until a few weeks 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."

Strike seasons 1-5 are available to stream on BBC iPlayer. Season 6 will begin airing from Monday 16th December 2024.

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