''Strike'' (also known as ''C. B. Strike'' internationally) is a British

crime drama Crime film is a film belonging to the crime fiction genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and fiction. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine with many other genres, such as Drama (film and television), dr ...

television programme based on the book series '' Cormoran Strike'' by

J. K. Rowling Joanne Rowling ( ; born 31 July 1965), known by her pen name , is a British author and philanthropist. She is the author of ''Harry Potter'', a seven-volume fantasy novel series published from 1997 to 2007. The series has List of best-sell ...

under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. The programme was first broadcast on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

on 27 August 2017, after receiving an advance premiere at the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves filmmaking and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

on 10 August 2017. The programme follows Cormoran Strike ( Tom Burke), a war veteran turned private detective operating out of a tiny office in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

's Denmark Street, who uses his unique insight and his background as a

Special Investigation Branch Special Investigation Branch (SIB) was the name given to the detective branches of all three British military police arms: the Royal Navy Police, Royal Military Police and Royal Air Force Police. It was most closely associated with the Royal ...

investigator to solve complex cases that have eluded the police along with his assistant, subsequently business partner, Robin Ellacott ( Holliday Grainger). Nineteen episodes across six series have been broadcast to date, each series adapting a novel: '' The Cuckoo's Calling'' (2013), '' The Silkworm'' (2014), '' Career of Evil'' (2015), '' Lethal White'' (2018), '' Troubled Blood'' (2020), and '' The Ink Black Heart'' (2022) respectively. The programme premiered on 1 June 2018 in the United States on

Cinemax Cinemax is an American pay television network owned by Home Box Office, Inc., a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched on August 1, 1980, as a "maxi-pay" service to complement the offerings of its sister premium network, HBO (Home Box ...

and in Canada on HBO Canada. Following the fourth series, the programme was exhibited in the United States on

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

Cast and characters

Main cast

* Tom Burke as Cormoran Blue Strike * Holliday Grainger as Robin Venetia Ellacott

Recurring cast

* Kerr Logan as Matthew Cunliffe * Ben Crompton as Shanker *

Natasha O'Keeffe Natasha Dervill O'Keeffe (born 1 December 1986) is a British actress. She is known for her roles as Abbey in the E4 (TV channel), E4 series ''Misfits (TV series), Misfits'' (2012–2013), Fedora in the ITV (TV channel), ITV series ''Jekyll and ...

as Charlotte Campbell * Killian Scott as DI Eric Wardle * Ann Akin as Vanessa Ekwensi * Sargon Yelda as DI Richard Anstis * Caitlin Innes Edwards as Ilsa Herbert * Kierston Wareing as Leda Strike * Jack Greenlees as Sam Barclay * Sarah Sweeney as Lucy * Ruth Sheen as Pat Chauncey * Tupele Dorgu as Midge Greenstreet * Stephen Hagan as DCI Richard Murphy

Guest cast

S1: ''The Cuckoo's Calling''

* Siân Phillips as Lady Yvette Bristow * Martin Shaw as Tony Landry * David Avery as Nico Kolovas-Jones * Leo Bill as John Bristow * Tara Fitzgerald as Tansy Bestigui * Amber Anderson as Ciara Porter * Kadiff Kirwan as Guy Somé * Bronson Webb as Evan Duffield *

Elarica Johnson Elarica Johnson (or Gallacher; born 21 August 1989) is a British actress and model. On television, she is known for her roles in the Starz drama ''P-Valley'' (2020–2022) and the Sky Atlantic fantasy series ''A Discovery of Witches'' (2018). ...

as Lula Landry * Brian Bovell as Derrick Wilson

S2: ''The Silkworm''

* Dorothy Atkinson as Kathryn Kent * Monica Dolan as Leonora Quine * Dominic Mafham as Jerry Waldegrave * Tim McInnerny as Daniel Chard * Peter Sullivan as Andrew Fancourt * Jeremy Swift as Owen Quine * Lia Williams as Liz Tassel * Sarah Gordy as Orlando Quine

S3: ''Career of Evil''

* Andrew Brooke as Niall Brockbank * Emmanuella Cole as Alyssa * Jessica Gunning as Holly Brockbank * Matt King as Jeff Whittaker *

Neil Maskell Neil Maskell (born 1976) is an English actor, writer and director who is known for his appearances in British crime and horror films. His credits include '' Nil by Mouth'' (1997), '' The Football Factory'' (2004), '' Rise of the Footsoldier'' ( ...

as Donald Laing

S4: ''Lethal White''

* Nick Blood as Jimmy Knight * Robert Glenister as Jasper Chiswell * Joseph Quinn as Billy Knight * Sophie Winkleman as Kinvara Chiswell * Christina Cole as Izzy Chiswell * Adam Long as Raff Chiswell * Natalie Gumede as Lorelei Bevan * Saffron Coomber as Flick Pardue * Danny Ashok as Aamir Malik *

Robert Pugh Robert Pugh (born 3 November 1948) is a Welsh actor, known for his many television appearances, including the role of Craster in the HBO series ''Game of Thrones''. Life and career Pugh was born in Tyntetown, Mountain Ash and attended Ynysbo ...

as Geraint Winn

S5: ''Troubled Blood''

* Jonas Armstrong as Saul Morris * Linda Bassett as Joan Nancarrow * Fionnula Flanagan as Oonagh Kennedy * Sutara Gayle as Kim Sullivan * Abigail Lawrie as Margot Bamborough * Ian Redford as Ted Nancarrow * Andy de la Tour as Nico 'Mucky' Ricci * Sophie Ward as Anna Phipps * Kierston Wareing as Leda Strike * Michael Byrne as Roy Phipps * Anna Calder-Marshall as Janice Beattie * Cherie Lunghi as Gloria Conti * Carol MacReady as Irene Hickson * Madhav Sharma as Dr Dinesh Gupta * Samuel Oatley as DI George Layborn * Kenneth Cranham as Dennis Creed * Robin Askwith as Steve Douthwaite * Christina Cole as Izzy Chiswell

S6: ''The Ink Black Heart''

* Jacob Abraham as Josh Blay * Ewan Bailey as Nils De Jung *

Kevin Bishop Kevin Brian Bishop (born 1980) is a British actor, comedian and writer. He is best known for his roles as Jim Hawkins (character), Jim Hawkins in ''Muppet Treasure Island'', Stupid Brian in ''My Family'', and Nigel Norman Fletcher in the 2016 rev ...

as Wally Cardew * Ellise Chappell as Kea Niven * Jack Donoghue as Gus Upcott * Emma Fielding as Katya Upcott * Mirren Mack as Edie Ledwell * Christian McKay as Inigo Upcott * James Nelson-Joyce as Pez Pierce * Luke Norris as Phillip Ormond * David Westhead as Grant Ledwell

Production and development

On 10 December 2014 it was announced that the ''Cormoran Strike'' novel series, written by

under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, would be adapted for television by the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

for broadcast on

, beginning with '' The Cuckoo's Calling''. Two years later it was confirmed that the series would total seven episodes of sixty minutes, with shooting to begin in London in the autumn of 2016. Tom Burke was announced in the role of Cormoran Strike in September 2016, and Holliday Grainger in the role of Robin Ellacott in November 2016. Ben Richards adapted ''The Cuckoo's Calling'', and Tom Edge adapted '' The Silkworm'', '' Career of Evil'', '' Lethal White'' and '' Troubled Blood''. Richards stated that the series is "very different tonally and visually from other crime dramas." He compared ''Strike'' to the British detective television series '' Morse''. Similarly, Edge commented that "people use old-fashioned as a pejorative word, but to me that's part of why these books, and, I hope, the TV series, works so well."

Episodes

Series 1: ''The Cuckoo's Calling'' (2017)

''The Cuckoo's Calling'' was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

on 27 November 2017.

Series 2: ''The Silkworm'' (2017)

''The Silkworm'' was released on DVD on 19 February 2018.

Series 3: ''Career of Evil'' (2018)

''Career of Evil'' was released on DVD on 16 April 2018.

Series 4: ''Lethal White'' (2020)

''Lethal White'' was released on DVD on 23 November 2020.

Series 5: ''Troubled Blood'' (2022)

Series 6: ''The Ink Black Heart'' (2024)

Reception

''The Cuckoo's Calling'' received generally positive reviews from critics.

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

gave it an approval rating of 85%, based on 20 reviews, and an average score of 6.8/10. The website's critics’ consensus reads "The TV adaptation of ''C. B. Strike'' delivers an entertaining detective series that faithfully and effectively adheres to genre tropes." Morgan Jeffery of ''

Digital Spy Digital Spy (DS) is a British-based entertainment, television and film website and brand and is the largest digital property at Hearst UK. Since its initial launch in 1999, Digital Spy has focused on entertainment news related to television pro ...

'', who reviewed the first episode, praised both Burke’s and Grainger's performances, calling Burke's performance "a revelation". Similarly, the adaptation of ''The Silkworm'' was met with positive reviews, with critics again praising Burke’s and Grainger's performances. However the first episode was criticised for showing a suicide scene on World Suicide Prevention Day, making some viewers claim that this scene was insensitive. ''Career of Evil'' holds an 88% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 8 reviews, and an average score of 7/10. ''Lethal White'' holds a 73% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 11 reviews, and an average score of 5.6/10. ''Troubled Blood'' holds a 93% approval rating from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 26 reviews. ''The Ink Black Heart'' holds a 51% approval rating from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 20 reviews. After the ''Ink Black Heart began'' airing on HBO on 23 January 2025 the show was one of the top ten streamed series on the streaming service Max following the broadcast of the second episode.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Strike (Tv Series) 2017 British television series debuts 2010s British crime drama television series 2010s British mystery television series 2020s British crime drama television series 2020s British mystery television series Adaptations of works by J. K. Rowling BBC high definition shows BBC crime television shows BBC mystery television shows BBC television dramas British detective television series British English-language television shows Television shows based on British novels Television shows set in London Cinemax original programming