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Cast announced for new thriller Bancroft as filming begins in Bolton

Broadchurch actress Sarah Parish, is to lead the cast of new four-part ITV Encore thriller, Bancroft.

Created and written by Kate Brooke (Mr Selfridge, Ice Cream Girls), Parish will play respected police officer DCI Elizabeth Bancroft, a tortured female detective with dark secrets in her past.

Ruthless and courageous, Bancroft is a brilliant copper. She has given her life to the police force. Consequently, she’s trusted and adored by her colleagues and promotion to Detective Chief Superintendent looks assured. Bancroft is running an operation to bring down the pernicious and vicious Kamara gang. She adopts dubious methods, but the most violent brother, Athif, rules the local town with an iron fist, so it’s hard not to applaud her actions.

Game Of Thrones‘ Faye Marsay, takes on the role of DS Katherine Stevens, an ambitious fast-tracked recruit. When Katherine is assigned to a particular cold case, she unwittingly disturbs the ghosts of the past and what she unearths shakes Bancroft to her core.

International actor, Linus Roache (Vikings) makes his return to British television. Linus plays Tim Frazer who was widowed when his wife, Laura, was brutally murdered in their home 27 years previously, an unsolved crime Elizabeth seems to know more about than she’s letting on. This knowledge won’t stay buried and it seems Elizabeth Bancroft will be forced to confront her demons.

The cast also features, Amara Karan (The Night Of), Adrian Edmondson (War and Peace), Art Malik (Indian Summers), Kenneth Cranham (War and Peace), Adam Long (Happy Valley), Lee Boardman (The Five) and Steve Evets (One of Us).

Bancroft will be filmed on location in and around Bolton and the North West, and is made by Tall Story Pictures and directed by John Hayes (Vera, Home Fires).