ITV's Winter is the 'dark' and 'atmospheric' must-watch for crime drama fans - and stars Rivals and Fool Me Once favourites

ITV has quietly dropped Winter, an atmospheric piece of crime noir that fans of the genre are going to find compelling.

Airing from September 30 and set, and partially filmed in Bristol, the six part series is based on the long-running French series Balthazar, which ran between 2018 - 2023.

In the original show, Raphaël Balthazar is one of the most talented forensic pathologists of his generation, visualising the ghosts of the dead to help him solve the most complex cases - sometimes he gets help in the form of the ghost of his murdered wife.

Picking up from he left off, Richard Armitage (Fool Me Once) is Dr Ethan Winter, an equally unconventional forensic pathologist using unorthodox and rule-breaking methods to solve crime.

Like Balthazar, Winter is haunted by murdered girlfriend Simone, whose loss overshadows his every move. At work, he instantly clashes with Annabel Scholey's (Rivals) DI Lauren Bell when they come together on a case.

Lauren is a driven detective equally dedicated to solving every crime she'd handed.

Each episode covers a new murder, while viewers are slowly given more access to Winter's private life across the episodes as he's consumed by the unofficial investigation he holds into the death of Simone - and the man he believes has been wrongly convicted of her killing.

DI Bell has her own issues to work through as she overcompensates in her working life to move out of the shadow of her father’s reputation, while the man she's married to is having an affair.

Like Balthazar before him, Richard Armitage hopes audiences will also want to see Ethan Winter return for multiple seasons.

"I know that people roll their eyes when they hear 'He doesn’t play by the rules,' but he really is unusual," the actor tells Radio Times.

He adds, "He’s a scientist, but because of something that’s happened to him, he has this spiritual side to his character. That’s not something you see often in a scientist."

Speaking about the research he did for the role, Richard says the only deceased bodies he's seen are those of his parents.

"Being in the room with a person who’s passed away is very different from being with the 'dead bodies' of telly drama," he shares, adding, "Whatever it does to you is very, very different."

He continues, "I did research for Winter and went to the morgue at Leicester Royal Infirmary, which is the hospital I was born in. I didn’t see any dead bodies, but I could smell them."

Not only is he acting in a crime drama, the actor also writes them. "I’m writing my third crime thriller," he reveals, adding, "I was commissioned by Audible, so I write them to record them and they’re audio for a year and then they go to print."

He calls this a "great outlet" that allows him to explore lots of "twisted worlds." His books could soon be playing out on screen, as he shares, "My first two books have been optioned – one by Sony and the other by Jed Mercurio."

Speaking about her role in the series, Annabel Scholey says she was drawn to the part because she's never played a detective before.

"I’ve played a lawyer, a surgeon, a scientist, but not a detective and it was something that I was really interested in exploring," she tells Numéro Netherlands.

She continues, "Lauren has a real sarcasm and dryness about her personality. She’s not an open book, she hides a lot of how she feels.

"I’ve played a lot of roles where the character wears their heart on their sleeve, is very emotional with lots of twists and turns, but I haven’t played many characters that keep everything under the surface, so that was a really different challenge for me which pulled me in."

Winter airs on ITV and ITVX from September 30.