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HIGHLIGHTS

SENSE8 Fri 5 Jun, Netflix The Wachowskis (The Matrix) head to TV with this mind-bending sci-fi as eight strangers in eight cities find themselves telepathically linked. See review, page 102.

STONEMOUTH Mon 8 Jun, BBC One Scotland, 9pm Two part crime drama adapted from Iain Banks' penultimate novel. See preview, left.

ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK Fri 12 Jun, Netflix Third season of the superb comedy drama following the life of Piper Chapman (Taylor Schilling) as she adjusts to her new life in prison.

HUMANS Sun 14 Jun (tbc), Channel 4 Intriguing drama, from the team behind Utopia and Broadchurch, in a world where life-like synthetic robots are a common household appliance. Starring William Hurt, Rebecca Front, Gemma Chan and Neil Maskell.

TRUE DETECTIVE Mon 22 Jun, Sky Atlantic Can the best new show of 2014 keep up the quality with a new cast and director? Nic Pizzolatto continues to write with Justin Lin (of Fast & Furious fame) stepping up to direct, while Colin Farrell, Vince Vaughn, Rachel McAdams and Taylor Kitsch take the lead in this dark crime drama.

FALLING SKIES Tue 30 Jun, FOX, 9pm The fifth and final season of alien invasion action thriller Falling Skies produced by Steven Spielberg. Can Tom Mason (Noah Wyle) free the world from the evil alien invaders?

EXTANT Thu 2 Jul, Amazon Prime Instant Video Halle Berry returns for season two of this brooding sci-fi produced by Spielberg (again).

THE SPOILS BEFORE DYING Thu 16 Jul, Fox, 10.30pm Bonkers follow up to the demented genius of spoof melodrama The Spoils of Babylon, starring Will Ferrell, Kristen Wiig and Haley Joel Osment.

THE GREAT BRITISH BAKE-OFF Aug (tbc), BBC One The nation's favourite comfort foodie TV show continues its winning whimsical mix of cookery, cakes and innuendo.

4 Jun–3 Sep 2015 THE LIST 103

TV PREVIEW STONEMOUTH BBC One Scotland, Mon 8 Jun, 9pm

Stonemouth was Iain Banks penultimate novel and this BBC Scotland production is the i rst adaptation of his work since his untimely death in 2013. In fact, with such a rich canon of work, it's surprising we haven't seen even more of Banks' novels brought to life on both the big and small screen. However, after the BBC's fantastic version of The Crow Road back in 1996 (has it really been that long?), we should be in safe hands.

It's set in the i ctional Aberdeenshire town of Stonemouth (i lmed in Macduff), a town that hides a dark secret. ‘Stonemouth is about a guy called Stewart Gilmour,’ explains Christian Cooke who takes the lead as Gilmour, ‘who comes back to his home town for the funeral of his best friend Callum Murston, son of Don Murston [Peter Mullan], a much feared and respected i gure in the town. Callum is believed to have committed suicide. However, once Stewart returns, he starts to investigate the possibility that perhaps Callum's death isn’t what it seems, and that perhaps he was murdered.’ After several years down south, Gilmour's return stirs up the locals. It's a gritty Scottish drama

that puts a criminal gang at the heart of this Scottish coastal town, but alongside the murder mys- tery there's also a tense romance. ‘The other narrative thread is that Stewart used to be engaged to Don Murston's daughter, Ellie Murston [Charlotte Spencer],’ adds Cooke, ‘but after a moment of ini delity, was forced to go on the run and leave Stonemouth for good. He's been given a free pass by Don to return for the funeral and hopes that he can possibly patch things up with her.’

Stonemouth captures the feeling of claustrophobia and isolation that can be inherent in isolated communities. ‘Stewart is an intelligent, thoughtful person who always had dreams far beyond the coni nes of the small town he grew up in,’ says Cooke. ‘He and Ellie were very much soul mates and shared ambitions to travel and see the world. Stewart has a certain wit and cynicism about him that colours his view of the world. He also has a sound moral compass and a very determined nature.’ Cooke particularly relished the opportunity to work with Mullan: ‘Loved it. Bit of a dream come true. I believe he's one of the greatest screen actors of all time and it was amazing learning from him.’

You might recognise Cooke from ITV's short-lived supernatural action adventure series Demons; two episodes of Doctor Who, alongside David Tennant, and criminally overlooked meta-comedy Moving Wallpaper / Echo Beach or i lms including Love, Rosie and Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant's Cemetery Junction. He's also had success over in the States with recurring roles in Magic City and Witches of East End. And he's currently in Montreal i lming Sony's i rst original series for their online video distribution service Crackle, under the working title of The Art of More, with Dennis Quaid and Kate Bosworth. ‘It's about a blue collar guy called Graham Connor, who I play, who gets a job working for one of the top auction houses in New York and who leverages his way into this exclusive existence by exploiting his connections to antiquities, smuggling rings he was exposed to as a soldier in Iraq.’ (Henry Northmore)