You know you're in safe hands when you settle down to watch a TV drama starring Martin Clunes. While the 63-year-old boasts an impressive list of comedy roles, including Men Behaving Badly, Doc Martin and, he's starred in some gripping crime dramas over the years that we think fans will love.
From crime thrillers to psychological dramas, here are four of Martin's most "gritty" roles.
© ITVManhunt
Martin plays real-life London Met detective Colin Sutton in ITV's gripping crime drama, Manhunt.
Season one dramatises the real-life investigation into the death of French student Amélie Delagrange, whose body was found on Twickenham Green in 2004. In season two, titled Manhunt II: The Night Stalker, DCI Sutton tracks down a notorious serial rapist and burglar whose 17-year reign of terror left elderly people living in south London fearing for their safety.
The series was hugely popular with viewers, with one fan describing the show as "terribly heartbreaking and completely compelling", while another hailed the drama as "gritty" and "powerful".
© ITVOut There
Penned by Ed Whitmore (Steeltown Murders, Grace, Manhunt), this six-part ITV thriller sees Martin in the role of farmer and single dad Nathan Williams as he confronts dark forces seeping into his rural community.
When his son Johnny (Louis Ashbourne Serkis) becomes entangled in a dangerous county lines drug-dealing gang, Nathan will stop at nothing to protect him.
The synopsis continues: "Consequently, he embarks on a personal journey that will take him ever further out of his comfort zone into a dark alternative world as he fights to protect his family, his homestead and his legacy. He’s missed all the clues that the country idyll around him has been fatally compromised, contaminated by waves of criminality spreading and mutating virus-like from the city."
It concludes: "Now Nathan must accept that the rustic atmosphere of his childhood is long gone, replaced by something altogether more perilous. And the only way for Nathan to survive in this brave new world is to learn the rules and fight back."
The reviews for the thriller were mostly positive, with both The Guardian and The Telegraph awarding the series four stars. Meanwhile, viewers praised the show as "brilliant" with many binge-watching the six-parter on ITVX.
5 top ITV drama series
© ITV1. The Bay
Set in Morecambe Bay, Lancashire. Investigator Lisa Armstrong is assigned to support and talk to the families of missing persons. When she discovers a personal connection to a case she's working on, her emotional involvement may cause her to overlook crucial clues.
2. A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story
A dark love story about Ruth Ellis (Lucy Boynton), the last woman to be executed in the UK in the 1950s. The historical crime drama follows her turbulent life as a nightclub manager and her violent relationship with the man she eventually murders.
3. Unforgotten
Detectives Cassie Stuart and Sunil Khan are on the top of their game to solve a series of cold cases including murders and strange disappearances. But are there consequences to digging up crimes and secrets from the past?
4. Out There
Nathan Williams (Martin Clunes), plays a farmer who risks everything to protect his son after he becomes involved with a drug gang. The dark world of county lines drug cartels begins to seep into the family's rural life.
5. Playing Nice
James Norton stars in this nightmare thriller about what happens when two sets of parents realise their sons may not be their biological children.
© ITV/ShutterstockA Mother's Son
This ITV miniseries, which aired in 2012, finds mother-of-two Rosie facing a horrific dilemma when she suspects her son could be responsible for the murder of a young girl in their Suffolk coastal village.
The psychological drama stars Hermione Norris (Cold Feet) as Rosie, who discovers damning evidence that her son could be connected to the heinous murder of a teenage schoolgirl, whose body is found in the woods near their town.
The synopsis continues: "Recently remarried, Rosie lives with her two children Jamie (Alexander Arnold) and Olivia, husband Ben Harley (Clunes), and his children from a previous marriage, Jessica and Rob.
"As the newly formed family settle into daily life living together under one roof, Rosie begins to suspect she may be sharing her home with a killer when she finds a pair of blood-splattered trainers hidden under her son Jamie’s bed.
"At first Rosie tries to dismiss her suspicions believing them too incomprehensible to be true. Could her teenage boy be involved in murder?"
The show was met with positive reviews, with The Guardian describing the drama as "tense, absorbing and thrilling".
© Geoffrey Swaine/ShutterstockArthur & George
An adaptation of Julian Barnes' 2005 novel, this three-part ITV series stars Martin as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes, during a period which saw the prolific author turn detective himself.
Set in 1906, the series follows Doyle and his secretary Alfred 'Woodie' Wood as they set out to prove the innocence of George Edalji, a young Anglo-Indian solicitor who was convicted of a series of animal mutilations that became known as the 'Great Wyrley Outrages'.
The series was met with mostly positive reviews, with The Guardian describing the drama as a "fine, well-acted adaptation", while The Independent said there was "a lot to relish" about the show.
