‘Scott & Bailey‘series 3 details revealed.

ITV has announced the addition of Tracie Bennett (End of the Rainbow, Hairspray, Coronation Street) and Nicola Walker (Last Tango in Halifax, A Mother’s Son, Inside Men, Spooks) to the cast of the third series of crime drama ‘Scott & Bailey’.

The 8-part series written and co-created by, Sally Wainwright (Unforgiven, Last Tango in Halifax, The Amazing Mrs Pritchard) sees the return of crime fighting duo, Suranne Jones (The Secret of Crickley Hall, A Touch of Cloth), Lesley Sharp (Starlings, The Shadow Line) and Amelia Bullmore (Twenty Twelve, Ashes to Ashes) – who has written episode six and seven with Wainwright, as no nonsense Detective Chief Inspector Gill Murray who is secretly known by her subordinates as ‘Godzilla’.

Having won critical acclaim and an array of awards for her outstanding performance as Judy Garland in Peter Quilter’s End of the Rainbow in the West End and on Broadway, Tracie Bennett will play Sharon Bailey, the unhinged and carefree mum of Rachel (Suranne Jones), Alison (Sally Lindsay) and Dom (Liam Boyle) bringing a whirlwind of chaos, upset and embarrassment into their lives.

Now eight months on, ‘acting Detective Sergeant’ Janet Scott, D.C. Rachel Bailey and the team of Syndicate 9 are called to the home of an elderly couple when a neighbour reports she hasn’t seen them for a while and there’s a bad smell coming from their letterbox. Whilst Joe Bevan is ill and bedridden his wife, Eunice, is found dead with her head decapitated. Only one of their four estranged adult children, Helen (Nicola Walker) can be traced, but having given Rachel a false alibi she becomes a key suspect in their murder investigation.

In their personal lives Rachel has been married to charismatic traffic cop Sean (Sean Maguire) for three months but is already starting to feel claustrophobic and it’s only a matter of time before cracks begin to show in their marriage.

Living amicably under the same roof as her soon to be ex-husband, Aid (Tony Pitts), proves to be a struggle for Janet. Despite her long-standing affair with former Detective Sergeant Andy Roper (Nicholas Gleaves), who has now left Syndicate 9, she’s finding it difficult to accept Aid is able to move on with his life without her.

Many of the original cast return to the series including; Ben Batt as D.C. Kevin Lumb, David Prosho as D.C. Ian Mitchell, Tony Mooney as D.C. Pete Readyough and Delroy Brown as D.C. Lee Broadhurst.

Actresses Pippa Haywood and Judith Barker also return to their characters, the formidable and funny D.C.I. Julie Dodson from Syndicate 3 and Dorothy Parsons, Janet’s mother.

Based on an original idea by Suranne Jones and Sally Lindsay. The third series of Scott & Bailey is executive produced for ITV by Nicola Shindler, Director of Red Production Company (Hit & Miss, Leaving) and co-creator and writer Sally Wainwright. Tom Sherry (New Tricks, Murphy’s Law, Fat Friends) returns to his role as producer whilst the directors are Morag Fullarton (Scott & Bailey, At Home with the Braithwaites, This Life) and Juliet May (Miranda, New Tricks, Open Wide).

‘Scott & Bailey’ is currently filming on location in Manchester and will air on ITV in 2013.