strike troubled blood s4© Photo: BBC

Is BBC One's Strike: Troubled Blood based on a true story?

The series finale airs on Monday night

TV and film writer
December 19, 2022

BBC One drama Strike draws to a close on Monday night and while viewers eagerly wait for the culprit to be unmasked in the series finale, they may be wondering if the show is based on a true story. 

MORE: Where is Strike: Troubled Blood filmed?

The new series follows private detective Cormoran Strike as he tackles a cold case from 1974 while visiting his family in Cornwall. 

WATCH: Are you enjoying the series? 

Is Strike: Troubled Blood based on a true story?

No, the series is not based on a true story but it is adapted from the Cormoran Strike novel series by JK Rowling, who is best known for penning the Harry Potter books. 

While the show isn't based on real life, the character of Dennis Creed is loosely based on two real-life murderers, Jerry Brudos and Russell Williams. 

Brudos took the lives of at least four women in Oregon between 1968 and 1969, while Williams was sentenced to life in prison in 2010 for murdering two women. 

MORE: Strike: Troubled Blood’s ending explained - who did it? 

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For those who have yet to see the new series, it sees detective Strike journey down to Cornwall to visit his family where he is approached by a woman asking for help finding her mother, Margot Bamborough, who went missing under mysterious circumstances in 1974.

© Photo: BBC

Dennis is loosely based on two real-life serial killers

Despite never having tackled a cold case before, Strike decides to take it on, adding to the long list of cases that he is currently working on, along with the help of his partner in the agency Robin Ellacott, who is also juggling a messy divorce as well as battling her own feelings about Strike. 

The synopsis continues: "As Strike and Robin investigate Margot’s disappearance, they come up against a fiendishly complex case with a psychopathic serial killer and witnesses who cannot all be trusted. They learn that even cases decades old can prove to be deadly."

Strike: Troubled Blood concludes on Monday 19 December on BBC One at 9pm. 

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