'Flesh & Blood' Promises to Be a Different Kind of Mystery Series

After the police procedural of Van Der Valk, Masterpiece's Mystery series moves to a very different sort of thriller for October. Flesh & Blood is a four-part miniseries, a stand-alone thriller that is as much about the interior family drama as it is the exterior violence visited on them. The series first aired in the U.K. back in February of 2020 to rave reviews from the British press. Masterpiece is hoping an American audience will be just as receptive.

The series certainly has the cast to draw in even the most casual viewer. Imelda Staunton (The Crown) headlines the series, as the next-door neighbor Mary. She acts as the narrator, filling in the detective attempting to rebuild the crime scene with all the gossip from next door. And do they ever have some drama. Vivian (Francesca Annis) has found herself a new love late in life after her husband of several decades finally passes away after a quietly unhappy marriage. Vivian always did her best to keep her children from knowing how bad things were. But that kindness has now backfired as she attempts her first steps towards new independence. All three of her kids, Helen (Claudie Blakley), Jake (Russell Tovey), and Natalie (Lydia Leonard), are emotionally unready to see her move on with her boyfriend, Mark (Stephen Rea).

But as the kids grow suspicious of Mark, it seems that each of them could have gone off the deep end over their mother's relationship. Or at least, that's what D.I. Doug Lineham (David Bamber) suspects as he and Mary delve into just how messy their lives are.

Check out the official preview: