Grace season 6 confirmed to continue "compelling" Sandy storyline after shocking character death

For the first few seasons of Grace, one mystery hung over the detective throughout – the disappearance of his wife Sandy many years previously.

In season 4, she finally re-emerged, only to die at the end of the season. Season 5 saw more revelations unveiled, with John Simm's character finding out that Sandy had got into gambling debts and gone on the run, thanks to Cassian Pewe, who she was having an affair with.

At the end of season 5, with Cassian's corruption exposed, he revealed to Grace that Sandy's death had in fact been a hit by the gang she owed money to, and that they would now be coming for her and Roy's son, Bruno, who he and Cleo are now raising.

Speaking at a Q&A for season 6, Simm revealed that the storyline surrounding Sandy is set to continue, even though she has now been dead for some time.

"It's been hanging over him from the very first episode," Simm said of the Sandy mystery. "You can't really learn to live with it, but the more they investigate it, the more we as the audience find out what happened. It's a compelling storyline."

He continued: "I was worried that when it was all tied up and she died, and we finally found out what happened, I was worried that that would be it. He needs some kind of traumatic thing in his life to make everything interesting, to make a show like this interesting, there has to be conflict and drama, but it's not going away.

"The aftermath of everything to do with Sandy's is very much alive and real, and that's what they're dealing with, and it affects all of them, especially Grace and Branson. Personally, those stakes are really, really high, and people dear to them are in danger. So, yeah, it's an ever present thing."

Simm also said that he "loves" the fact that the show has now veered away from the novels, written by Peter James, meaning elements of the Sandy storyline, or any other story, can keep even book readers on their toes.

"We've kept characters alive, or killed off other characters that are in the novels," he said. "So the rug is pulled from underneath you even if you know the novels.

"They're going to be slightly different here, because they're two different things, a novel and a TV show. So I love the fact that we veered away, and it's got its own identity."

Grace season 6 will air on ITV1 and ITVX from Sunday 29 March at 8pm. Seasons 1-5 are available to stream in full now on ITVX.

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