When is Strike: The Cuckoo’s Calling on TV?


It has been announced that the first episode of JK Rowling’s mystery thriller (adapted by screenwriter Ben Richards) will begin on Sunday 27th August at 9.00pm on BBC1, with the second episode airing the day after on Monday 28th August at 9.00pm.

That’s the August bank holiday weekend, so expect a Strike-filled couple of days.

Following that the next three episodes of this seven-part series will air on the 3rd, 10th and 17th September.

What is it based on?

The series is adapted from JK Rowling’s mystery novel The Cuckoo’s Calling, written under the pseudonym of Robert Galbraith and originally a secret project for the Harry Potter author until her cover was blown after publication.

The book was written in 2013 and has been adapted into three one-hour episodes, with the Strike series’ first 2014 sequel The Silkworm adapted into a two-part story by Tom Edge and due to air in the weeks after. In total, it will be a seven-part series.

What’s it about?

After the death of model Lula Landry, struggling private detective Cormoran Strike is hired to find out if the official police verdict of suicide is accurate, finding himself drawn into a celebrity world he’s tried to avoid his whole life.

Meanwhile, as she helps with his enquiries, Strike’s new temp Robin begins to discover her boss’s own dark past….

Holliday Grainger and Tom Burke in Strike

Who stars in it?

Musketeers and War & Peace star Tom Burke plays the titular Cormoran Strike, the illegitimate son of a rock star and former military police officer trying to make a living as a PI in London after losing his leg in Afghanistan.

Holliday Grainger (best known for roles in The Riot Club, Great Expectations and The Borgias) will play his partner Robin, with Logan Kerr appearing as her fiancé Matthew.

Other stars include real-life model Elarica Johnson as Lula Landry, Martin Shaw, Leo Bill, Killian Scott, Tara Fitzgerald and Siân Phillips.

Will there be another series of Strike?

Yes – the third novel in the series (2015’s Career of Evil) has already been shot and will air sometime in the New Year, RadioTimes.com has been told.

And when JK Rowling/Robert Galbraith releases another novel of Cormoran Strike’s adventures, the production team apparently hope to keep on adapting the stories to TV with the same cast.


Strike: The Cuckoo’s Calling will begin on Sunday 27th August at 9.00pm on BBC1, continuing the next day