Picking up at the moment where the heart-stopping series finale left off in series two, Gillian Anderson and Jamie Dornan return to BBC Two in their iconic roles as the battle between Detective Superintendent Gibson and Paul Spector reaches its terrifying conclusion in Allan Cubitt’s intense psychological thriller, The Fall.

A stellar new cast including Krister Henriksson (Wallander), Aidan McArdle (Mr Selfridge), Ruth Bradley (Humans), Aisling Bea (Trollied) and Richard Coyle (Crossbones) join Anderson and Dornan. Colin Morgan will feature as Detective Sergeant Tom Anderson, with series regulars John Lynch, Valene Kane, Stuart Graham, Bronagh Waugh and Aisling Franciosi also set to return.

At the climax of the last series, audiences were left reeling as Spector, critically injured in a devastating ambush, lay bleeding in the arms of Detective Superintendent Stella Gibson. Moments before, the intense and single-minded investigator thought she had her man; now, shocked and desperate, she’s losing him.

Bringing a killer to book is going to take much more now than simply catching him. In the emotionally charged aftermath of the shooting, Gibson’s personal journey to exact justice for the victims’ families must begin with the blood-soaked fight to keep Spector alive.

As The Fall reaches its inexorable conclusion, it’s clear that the rules of this deadly game of cat and mouse are set to shift once again.

Allan Cubitt says: “I’ve been on a very exciting journey over the last five years with Stella Gibson and Paul Spector – the central characters of The Fall – and I’m thrilled to have recently started filming the third instalment of their macabre, obsessive dance of death. Gillian and Jamie have lived and breathed those characters during that time and I’ve been incredibly well-served as both writer and director by their stellar performances. Obviously I don’t want to give anything away about how the third series will end but I can say that I am looking forward to working with both Gillian and Jamie again in the near future!”

The Fall is created, written and directed by Allan Cubitt, and produced by Fables in association with Artists Studio for BBC Two. It is produced by Gub Neal and Carol Moorhead. The executive producers are Patrick Irwin and Justin Thomson-Glover for Artists Studio, part of Endemol Shine Group, Stephen Wright for BBC Northern Ireland, Allan Cubitt and Gillian Anderson.

The five-part series is currently filming in Belfast. The Fall is commissioned by Kim Shillinglaw, Controller of BBC Two.