Anne-Marie Duff has signed up to star in new BBC crime series From Darkness.
The Shameless star will play Claire Church – a police officer who quits the force in the mid-90s, unable to cope with the levels of sexism and violence, and moves to the remote Western Isles of Scotland to start a new life. But when four bodies from a past investigation are uncovered, Claire finds her self drawn back into the world she was trying to escape.
Anne-Marie Duff praised writer Katie Baxendale’s scripts, saying: “She has created a beautifully complex character in her female protagonist. As soon as I started to read episode one I felt excited at the prospect of being involved. It’s a world in which all of the characters have real stories to tell.
“Also I loved the BBC series The Village and one of its directors, Dominic Leclerc, will be our director on this. I couldn’t be happier.”
Anne-Marie Duff (Grant Pollard/Invision)
Katie added: ‘I’m a huge fan of Anne-Marie Duff. In Claire, I hope I’ve created a psychologically complex lead female character and I can’t wait to see all that Anne-Marie brings to the role.”
Filming on the four-part BBC One drama begins in Manchester and Scotland later this month, and it is scheduled to air at the end of the year.
Anne-Marie, 44, rose to fame in hit Channel 4 drama Shameless. But since she left the show in 2005, she has predominantly appeared in films and on the stage. Her last major TV role was in Parade’s End in 2012.
Anne-Marie Duff and James McAvoy have been married since 2006 (Grant Pollard/Invision)
Anne-Marie is married to her former Shameless co-star James McAvoy, and they have a four-year-old son.
