David Morrissey stars as suspect headteacher in ITV drama Gone inspired by real detective
david morrissey plays Michael Polly, an upstanding private school headteacher who becomes the prime suspect in the disappearance of his wife, in Gone, a new six-part fictional crime series filmed in and around Bristol and partly inspired by the real-life work of Detective Superintendent Julie Mackay.
David Morrissey plays headmaster Michael Polly
In Gone, david morrissey portrays Michael Polly, described in press material as an inscrutable, order-loving headmaster whose composure starts to crack under investigation. Polly’s wife is named Sarah in the drama, and their daughter Alana, played by Emma Appleton, is a teacher at the school, making the case a family affair.
Eve Myles’ detective is inspired by Julie Mackay
Eve Myles stars as Detective Annie Cassidy, a “super-bright, gutsy” investigator whose character is inspired by the career of former Detective Superintendent Julie Mackay. Both Julie Mackay and crime correspondent Robert Murphy served as consultants on the series, which is fictional but partly drawn from the book To Hunt a Killer, co-written about Mackay’s work.
Myles, a Welsh actress best known for Broadchurch and Keeping Faith, said at the Wales Screen Summit in October that she had considered quitting acting because of a lack of quality roles for women before taking roles like this. She has referenced stepping away from a recognisable character — citing [Torchwood's] Gwen Cooper — and added that female-led drama is improving.
The real Melanie Road case behind the drama
The series takes creative inspiration from Mackay’s painstaking cold-case work. The real case involved the 1984 murder of Melanie Road, a 17-year-old killed as she walked home from a nightclub in Bath. Mackay reopened the case in 2009 after transferring to Avon and Somerset’s cold case review team and spent years piecing together original evidence and extracting more modern DNA samples.
A young woman was arrested in 2015 after an unrelated argument led to her DNA being taken; she was not born at the time of the murder. Her DNA led investigators to a relative, and in 2016 Christopher Hampton, from Fishponds in Bristol, changed his plea to guilty at the start of his trial. Hampton was jailed for life and must serve at least 22 years. Det Supt Mackay won awards for her role in solving the 32-year-long murder case.
Production team, cast and creative approach
Gone was written by George Kay, whose credits include The Long Shadow, Hijack and Lupin, and directed by Richard Laxton, whose credits include Mrs Wilson, Burton and Taylor and Joan. The cast beyond Eve Myles, david morrissey and Emma Appleton includes Jennifer Macbeth, Arthur Hughes, Nicholas Nunn, Elliot Cowan, Billy Barrett, Rupert Evans, Jodie McNee, Oscar Batterham and Clare Higgins.
The series is set against the backdrop of a prestigious private school, a foreboding forest and the quiet sprawl of Bristol. Creator George Kay described the drama as exploring privilege and prejudice while pitting Eve Myles’s Detective Annie Cassidy against the main suspect Michael Polly in a tightening game of cat and mouse.
When and where to watch Gone
Gone will air on ITV and STV from Sunday 8th March at 9pm. The six-part series was filmed in and around Bristol last year and is due to reach viewers in early March on those networks.
Other headlines that appeared alongside coverage of the series included human-interest and political items such as a moment when twin sisters learned they were identical, a mother speaking about her son's assisted dying wish, an account of spiking occurring in public, a pledge on immigration reform despite a by-election defeat, commentary on a Green victory signifying insurgent parties' strength, and a story about an 11-year-old winning a campaign for a UK child cruelty register.
Gone is presented as a fictional mystery partly inspired by To Hunt a Killer and the career and work of Julie Mackay and Robert Murphy; both served as consultants on the show. The next confirmed broadcast milestone is the series premiere on ITV and STV on Sunday 8th March at 9pm.
