David Morrissey Heads a Web of Suspicion in Bristol-Set Crime Drama Gone — Eve Myles Leads as Detective Annie Cassidy
The new six-part crime drama Gone, starring eve myles and david morrissey, arrives with pedigree and international interest: the show was filmed and set in Bristol, draws on a real detective's cold-case work for inspiration, and its distributor has secured several pre-sales in North America, Australia, New Zealand, Asia and Europe. The combination of a high-profile cast, a fictional mystery rooted in a true investigation, and early global sales sets expectations for a mainstream primetime launch in early March.
Eve Myles and the detective who inspired Gone
Eve Myles plays Detective Annie Cassidy, a character modelled on the career of former detective Julie Mackay. The creative team describe the role as a strong, super-bright investigator who drives the plot as she pursues the disappearance at the heart of the series. Both Julie Mackay and crime correspondent Robert Murphy served as consultants on the production, helping shape the fictional case while the writers kept the drama itself distinct from the real-life events that inspired it.
David Morrissey as Michael Polly: The Prime Suspect
David Morrissey plays Michael Polly, an upstanding private school headteacher who becomes the prime suspect in the disappearance of his wife, Sarah. The character is presented as inscrutable and orderly in his professional life until his encounters with Detective Annie Cassidy trigger a tense cat-and-mouse dynamic. The storytelling centres on how Cassidy chips away at Polly's veneer while the community around the school and nearby forest supplies a chilling backdrop.
How the real cold case shaped the fiction
The series takes partial inspiration from the investigative work that reopened a 1984 murder after decades in cold-case status. In the real investigation, the detective renewed inquiries around 2009 and spent several years piecing together older evidence to obtain modern DNA samples. That work led to the arrest of a young woman in 2015 after an incident involving a broken necklace; her DNA ultimately triggered a match that led investigators to her father. The suspect later changed his plea to guilty at the start of his trial in 2016 and was jailed for life with a minimum term of at least 22 years. The book To Hunt a Killer, written by the detective and a crime correspondent, helped inspire the series' lead investigator character.
Production, setting and release timetable
Gone was filmed in and around Bristol last year and is set against the city’s quiet sprawl, a prestigious private school and a foreboding nearby forest. The production team has positioned the series as a chilling, fictional mystery focused on the disappearance that draws Detective Annie Cassidy into a prolonged investigation. The show is scheduled to debut in early March, with the precise broadcast timetable subject to change.
Cast context and creator notes
Eve Myles, a Welsh actress best known for roles in Broadchurch and Keeping Faith, plays the lead detective. She revealed at the Wales Screen Summit that she had at one point considered quitting acting because of a lack of quality roles for women, and described the new drama as part of a trend toward stronger female-led stories. The cast also includes Sherwood's David Morrissey in the pivotal role of Michael Polly, anchoring the drama’s central moral ambiguity.
Distribution and international interest
Early commercial momentum arrived when the series' distributor secured several pre-sales for Gone across multiple territories, including North America, Australia, New Zealand, Asia and Europe. Those pre-sales signal confidence in the show’s commercial prospects beyond its domestic launch and increase the likelihood of a broad international audience when the series begins airing.
While Gone remains a fictional drama, its creative roots in a celebrated cold-case investigation and the involvement of the original detective and the book’s author as consultants give the series a close connection to the real investigative story that inspired it. Details of the plot and courtroom outcomes in the drama are fictionalised, and the production emphasizes that the series is not a direct retelling of the underlying case.
