Viewers have shared their frustrations with the return of ITV show Grace, starring John Simm as the troubled detective Roy Grace. While fans were delighted that the show had returned for a four-part season five, others pointed out plot holes from the opening episode, which saw Grace deal with a bomb during a football match.
Fan reaction
Pointing out the obvious plot holes in the episode, namely that phone signal is difficult to find in a crowded football stadium, which serves as a key element of the show, one person posted on X: "The most unrealistic part so far is anyone having signal in a football stadium, took me 75 minutes to send a picture at the Emirates last week #Grace."
Another viewer agreed, adding: "#Grace Totally unrealistic. No way someone got a phone signal inside a football stadium." A third person posted: "Really? All spectators in close proximity to a fella fidgeting about talking into a microphone doesn’t garner alarm bells ? Must be a good match #Grace."
© Jonathan BrowningOthers were dissatisfied that ITV was airing another dark crime drama, with one posting: "ITV really need to start making comedy series again in the same vein as Cold Feet and the like. Lighthearted, life dramas. It’s just one bleak, grey police drama after the other." Another simply posted: "They’ve got a bomb scare, a kidnapping & trafficking and they’ve still managed to make it boring. good old itv #Grace."
However, others were more complimentary, with one posting: "Enjoying watching #Grace always a good Sunday evening crime drama with the excellent John Simm."
Where is Norman Potting?
Fans also noticed the absence of Line of Duty star Craig Parkinson, who played Norman Potting in the first four seasons. Posting about his exit back in 2024, he explained: "After a very happy few years I’ve made the decision to hand in Norman Potting’s detective badge.
© Jonathan Browning"It’s been a wonderful experience taking this character from page to screen and updating him for a new audience. There was a huge sense of responsibility in portraying such a character from Peter James's much-loved book series, but with a few tweaks here and there from our excellent script team and the support from Peter. I'm really glad that he resonated with the audience."
What to expect from the rest of season five
Speaking about season five, Richie Campbell, who plays DI Branson, defended the show's dark tone. He explained to ITV: "We’ve always championed the darkness: the books were dark from the beginning, and we always wanted to stand out in that Sunday night slot, where you might usually find more light-hearted detective shows.
© ITV"We always wanted to bring something a bit edgier, we love that, so we’re happy for people to say 'Grace is a bit dark'. We want people to get invested in the stories. But also, the beauty of it is you have very different cases each time, so you might have something extremely dark happening one week and then the next week is something very different.
"We’re trying to embrace that, especially with this series – the first episode is about a bomb threat at a football ground and the second is about identity theft, so there are dark undertones throughout, but ultimately the episodes are very varied."
