Ann Cleeves introduces detective Matthew Venn in The Long Call teaser

"I'd like to introduce you to Matthew Venn and The Long Call," Cleeves says. "We're here in North Devon, on Crow Point – this is where the body is found."

In the clip, the award-winning novelist reads a short paragraph from the book, where Matthew Venn attends the funeral of his estranged father.

The Long Call follows detective Matthew Venn as he returns to the small North Devon community he grew up in with his husband and begins investigating a murder whilst coming to terms with his own traumatic past, having been excommunicated by his family and the church community they lived in.

As Matthew delves deeper into the murder investigation, he finds that the case takes an unexpected turn when he's pulled further back into the religious community he grew up in and must confront an unresolved past that he has never been able to let go of.

The series also stars Doctor Who's Pearl Mackie as DS Jen Rafferty, an officer working closely with Matthew and a single mum who fled to Devon from London with her children to escape her previous life, as well as Riviera's Juliet Stevenson as Dorothy Venn, Matthew's deeply religious mother.

The Long Call starts tonight at 9pm on ITV. Visit our TV Guide to see what’s on tonight, or check out the rest of our Drama coverage.ITV's brand new detective drama The Long Call – based on Ann Cleeves' novel of the same name – premieres tonight, with Our Girl's Ben Aldridge starring as DI Matthew Venn in the four-parter.

Ahead of episode one's debut this evening, RadioTimes.com can share an exclusive clip of Ann Cleeves, also the author of the Vera and Shetland novels, reading an opening excerpt from The Long Call in which we meet detective Venn.

"I'd like to introduce you to Matthew Venn and The Long Call," Cleeves says. "We're here in North Devon, on Crow Point – this is where the body is found."

In the clip, the award-winning novelist reads a short paragraph from the book, where Matthew Venn attends the funeral of his estranged father.

The Long Call follows detective Matthew Venn as he returns to the small North Devon community he grew up in with his husband and begins investigating a murder whilst coming to terms with his own traumatic past, having been excommunicated by his family and the church community they lived in.

As Matthew delves deeper into the murder investigation, he finds that the case takes an unexpected turn when he's pulled further back into the religious community he grew up in and must confront an unresolved past that he has never been able to let go of.

The series also stars Doctor Who's Pearl Mackie as DS Jen Rafferty, an officer working closely with Matthew and a single mum who fled to Devon from London with her children to escape her previous life, as well as Riviera's Juliet Stevenson as Dorothy Venn, Matthew's deeply religious mother.

The Long Call starts tonight at 9pm on ITV. Visit our TV Guide to see what’s on tonight, or check out the rest of our Drama coverage.