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before we die

Meet the cast of new Channel 4 crime drama Before We Die

Will you be watching the high-octane new thriller?

Eve Crosbie
TV & Film Writer
May 26, 2021
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We love nothing more than a gritty drama and Channel 4's brand new crime thriller Before We Die is one we can't wait to get stuck into.

MORE: 25 hottest new shows to get excited about in 2021

Based on a Swedish series of the same name, the six-parter looks like it's going to be an utterly gripping watch from start to finish and has a stellar cast too. So who will be starring in the show? Meet the main cast below… 

WATCH: See the trailer for Before We Die

Lesley Sharp plays Hannah Laing

Lesley Sharp, who is perhaps best known to viewers for her role in Scott & Bailey alongside Suranne Jones, leads the cast as Hannah Laing, a detective on the verge of retirement who is determined to find out what's happened when her colleague - and lover - is found brutally murdered. Lesley's other credits include Netflix series Fate: The Winx Saga, BBC drama Three Girls, and The Full Monty.

lesley sharpe

Lesley Sharp plays Hannah Laing

Rebecca Scroggs plays Tina Carter 

Hannah and Sean's boss, Detective Chief Inspector Tina Carter, is played by Rebecca Scroggs, who has also appeared in the likes of Death in Paradise, Grace, Flack and Doctors. While she had her suspicions about Hannah and Sean's relationship, more focused on fast-tracking her career, she turned a blind eye.

Patrick Gibson plays Christian Radic

Irish actor Patrick Gibson plays Christian Radic, Hannah's son who is trying to put his life back together, having gone off the rails following his parents' divorce. He's not spoken to his mother since she arrested him and sent him down for a 21-month prison sentence for possession with intent to supply. Viewers will recognise Patrick for his roles in The Tudors, The Passing Bells, and The OA as well the films Tolkien and The Darkest Minds.

christian ridic

Patrick Gibson plays Christian Radic

Bill Ward plays Sean Hardacre

Sean Hardacre, played Bill Ward, is Hannah's married boyfriend and a fellow DI who viewers learn early on in the series has been brutally murdered. The 54-year-old actor is known for his soap opera roles as Charlie Stubbs in Coronation Street and James Barton in Emmerdale. More recently, viewers will have seen him in Ricky Gervais' critically acclaimed Netflix series After Life, where he played a character called Simon.

Kazia Pelka plays Dubravka Mimica 

Kazia Pelka, who appeared in Brookside and Heartbeat back in the nineties, plays Dubravka Mimica, the matriarch of the Mimica family - a tight-knit Croatian brood who moved to Bristol following the Croatian War of Independence. Now settled in Bristol, she owns the small pizza restaurant where Hannah's son works.

Kazia Pelka

Kazia Pelka plays Dubravka Mimica 

Toni Gojanovic plays Davor Mimica

Following his father's murder by Serbian forces during the war, Dubravka's criminal son Davor has assumed the position of head of the family and is a deadly gang leader. Croatian actor Toni Gojanovic, is mainly known for his Croatian television dramas, including Uspjeh, The Border Post, and Sixth Bus.

Toni Gojanovic

Toni Gojanovic plays Davor Mimica

Issy Knopfler plays Bianca Mimica 

The youngest of the Mimica siblings, Bianca is uninvolved – although not unaware – of her family's criminal activities. Just trying to get by and make a nice life for herself, by day she's a law student at a local university, and by night she works as a waitress in the family's restaurant. She is played by newcomer Issy Knopfler, who is the daughter of Dire Straits frontman Mark Knopfler.

Issy Knopfler

Issy Knopfler plays Bianca Mimica 

Vincent Regan plays Billy Murdoch

Fellow officer Billy Murdoch is called upon to assist in the investigation into Sean's death. Vincent played Ned Despard in season five of BBC's Poldark and appeared in recent dramas Flesh And Blood and Traces.

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