Peter James series on ITV tomorrow

From Jersey Evening Post:

Dead Simple, the first episode of the new Grace series, stars John Simm as Superintendent Grace and Richie Campbell as his sidekick, DS Glen Branson.

Mr James, who moved to Jersey three years ago with his wife, Lara, said that he had turned away a number of approaches to screen his fictional detective before agreeing on the current collaboration with Russell Lewis, whose screen credits include Inspector Morse, its prequel, Endeavour, and its sequel, Lewis, as well as Spooks and The Bill.

‘The key is to get the right writer, and Russ and I clicked. He told me he would not change anything I wasn’t happy with, and he has been true to his word. ITV involved me on every single casting decision from John Simm [as Roy Grace] to the smallest role, and they have a producer, Kiaran Murray-Smith, who is a Brighton boy, so he really gets and loves the city.

Inspector George Gently Books by Alan Hunter

Another set of books which inspired a TV series are Alan Hunter's Inspector George Gently series, starring Martin Shaw (of TV series The Professionals fame) as the main character.

A full list of titles (nearly 50 of them) can be found on Hunter's wikipedia page. As Hunter himself prefaces:

"This is a detective story, but NOT a whodunit. Its aim is to give a picture of a police investigator slowly building up his knowledge of a crime to a point, not where he knows who did it - both you and he know that at a fairly early stage - but to a point where he can bring a charge which will convince the jury."

From the 2007 BBC Press Release for the TV Series:

Britain, 1964: a time when the line between the police and criminals has become increasingly blurred; when the proliferation of drugs is about to change the face of policing forever; when Britain's youth stand on the brink of a social and sexual revolution. Inspector George Gently is one of the few good men at Scotland Yard, his sense of public duty an increasingly rare commodity in a police force where corruption is rife and unchecked. In Northumberland, George takes on the headstrong young Detective Sergeant Bacchus.

Writer and Executive Producer – Peter Flannery on adapting the series:

About four years ago I was rummaging in a dusty old bookshop when my hand fell on a paperback book called Gently Through The Mill by Alan Hunter.  Looking through it, I realised it was one of a substantial series of books featuring George Gently of Scotland Yard – the character and the writer being completely unknown to me. I bought the book for a couple of pounds and took it home.

This was not a completely random decision, nor was it inspired by any lifelong devotion to the detective fiction genre, which has always rather eluded me. But I had decided some while earlier to be on the lookout for a series of novels that could provide the basis for potential television adaptation.

To my surprise I found I enjoyed the novel, Gently seemed attractively old-fashioned, not just in his methods and his mindset, but in his values. I found there were dozens more in the series and that they were available for option. I started reading them avidly.

Martin Shaw on playing George Gently:

George is an old-time copper. He fought with General Montgomery in the Second World War; he's a very tough, seasoned fighter. He knows about hardship and has seen tough times, and that's a bonus.  I think he carries a lot of baggage around, what with the grief of the murder of his wife as well. He faces the seemingly impossible task of trying to change a corrupt police force – a one-man mission.