# Traces (TV series)

Traces is a British television crime drama produced by Red Production Company (a StudioCanal company). Co-created and written by Val McDermid and Amelia Bullmore, and based upon an original idea by McDermid, it originally premiered on Alibi on 9 December 2019. The series was rerun on BBC One on 4 January 2021 and series one began repeating on Drama on 15 January 2022, A second six-episode series was released in February 2022. and was shown on BBC One from 30 March 2024.

## Synopsis

Traces focuses on three female forensic professionals, Emma Hedges, Sarah Gordon and Kathy Torrance, working together at the fictional Scottish Institute of Forensic Science and Anatomy (SIFA) at the fictional University of Tayside in Dundee, Scotland, as they uncover the truth of a murder case and bring a killer to justice.

## Cast

In the first series, the cast was as follows:
* Molly Windsor as Emma Hedges, a laboratory technician who has moved back to her birthplace of Dundee, for her new job, and in search of answers about her mother's murder.
* Laura Fraser as Professor Sarah Gordon, professor of Chemistry at the University of Tayside and Emma's new boss at SIFA.
* Jennifer Spence as Kathy Torrence, a professor of forensic anthropology at the University of Tayside and a colleague at SIFA.
* Martin Compston as Daniel MacAfee, director of a construction company and romantic interest of Emma.
* Vincent Regan as Phil MacAfee, Daniel's father and former director of MacAfee Construction.
* Michael Nardone as Detective Inspector Neil McKinven, a friend of Professor Gordon who has insight on the Marie Monroe case.
* Phil McKee as Jimmy Levin, husband of Marie Monroe and Emma's stepfather.
* John Gordon Sinclair as Drew Cubbin, Emma's father and ex-partner of Marie Monroe.
* Morayo Akandé as Detective Constable Trina Adeboyo, colleague of DI McKinven at Police Scotland.
* Jamie Marie Leary as Skye Alessi, Emma's childhood best friend.
* Carly Anderson as Marie Monroe, Emma's mother who was murdered in 2001, and whose case remains unsolved.
* Laurie Brett as Izzy Alessi, best friend of Marie Monroe, and mother to Emma's childhood best friend Skye.
* Joana Borja as Pia Salvador, forensic scientist and love interest of Professor Torrence.
* Andrea Hart as Janine Muir, SIFA's receptionist.
* Anna Leong Brophy as Louise Chiu Jones, chemist and Emma's colleague at SIFA who works alongside her in the lab.
* Neve McIntosh as Julie Hedges, Emma's maternal aunt, who adopted her after the murder of her mother and took her to Manchester.
* Janey Godley as Clare Tindall, a criminal defence lawyer who represents Daniel.

## Production

Traces is set in and around Dundee, but the majority of the series was filmed in Bolton. The theme tune is a cover of Nina Simone's "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" by Valerie Broussard.

## Episodes
### Series overview

| Series | Episodes | Episodes | Originally released | Originally released |
| Series | Episodes | Episodes | First released | Last released |
| 1 | 6 | 6 | 9 December 2019 (2019-12-09) | 24 December 2019 (2019-12-24) |
| 2 | 6 | 6 | 15 February 2022 (2022-2-15) | 22 March 2022 (2022-03-22) |

### Series 1 (2019)

| No. overall | No. in series | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | UK viewers (millions) |
| 1 | 1 | "Episode 1" | Mary Nighy | Amelia Bullmore | 9 December 2019 (2019-12-9) | 1.00 |
| 2 | 2 | "Episode 2" | Mary Nighy | Amelia Bullmore | 10 December 2019 (2019-12-10) | 0.89 |
| 3 | 3 | "Episode 3" | Mary Nighy | Amelia Bullmore | 16 December 2019 (2019-12-16) | 0.84 |
| 4 | 4 | "Episode 4" | Mary Nighy | Amelia Bullmore | 17 December 2019 (2019-12-17) | 0.79 |
| 5 | 5 | "Episode 5" | Mary Nighy | Amelia Bullmore | 23 December 2019 (2019-12-23) | 0.81 |
| 6 | 6 | "Episode 6" | Mary Nighy | Amelia Bullmore | 24 December 2019 (2019-12-24) | 0.83 |

### Series 2 (2022)

| No. overall | No. in series | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | UK viewers (millions) |
| 7 | 1 | "Episode 1" | Chris Foggin | Amelia Bullmore | 15 February 2022 (2022-2-15) | N/A |
| 8 | 2 | "Episode 2" | Chris Foggin | Amelia Bullmore | 22 February 2022 (2022-2-22) | N/A |
| 9 | 3 | "Episode 3" | Chris Foggin | Jess Williams | 1 March 2022 (2022-3-1) | N/A |
| 10 | 4 | "Episode 4" | Chris Foggin | Jess Williams | 8 March 2022 (2022-3-8) | N/A |
| 11 | 5 | "Episode 5" | N/A | Amelia Bullmore | 15 March 2022 (2022-3-15) | N/A |
| 12 | 6 | "Episode 6" | N/A | Amelia Bullmore | 22 March 2022 (2022-3-22) | N/A |

## Critical reception

Stuart Heritage reviewing on behalf of The Guardian rated the series three out of five, and whilst acknowledging the series is loaded with talent, said "this is what happens when TV runs out of new shows". The Times awarded the series two out of five, with Carol Midgley saying that "the biggest crime here so far is a lack of flavour".