BBC Strike full cast list including ex-Coronation St star and Mad Max actor

Strike is back for a sixth series on Monday, December 16 and fans will be treated to four new episodes. The hit BBC crime drama follows private detective Robin Ellacott (Holliday Grainger) and her business partner Cormoran Strike (Tom Burke) as they delve into different cases.

The sixth instalment, Strike: The Ink Black Heart is based on JK Rowling's book of the same name and will see the duo investigating the death of a popular cartoon's co-creator. The author Edie Ledwell tries to enlist the help of Robin and Cormoran after she is being persuted by a mysterious online figure who goes by the pseudonym of Anomie.

However, after Robin informs Edie that the agency is too busy to take on the case, a few weeks later, she reads the shocking news that Edie has been murdered. The crime-solving duo then get drawn into a complex quest to uncover Anomie's real identity.

While Tom Burke and Holliday Grainger reprise their leading roles for the sixth instalment of Strike, there are a raft of new guest stars for the upcoming series. Here is the full cast list:

• Tom Burke from Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is reprising his role as Cormoran Strike
• Holliday Granger, celebrated for her roles in Animals and Lady Chatterley's Lover, will be starring alongside Burke
• Ruth Sheen from Unforgotten and It's A Sin reprises her role as Pat
• Caitlin Innes Edwards, best known for Hanna, is back for a sixth series
• Natasha O'Keefe of Peaky Blinders and The Wheel of Time

• David Westhead, who starred in Bodyguard

• Emma Fielding from Sanditon

• Christian McKay of Rivals and Warrior

• Tupele Dorgu from Ridley, and she also played Kelly Crabtree on Corrie for six years from 2004

• James Nelson-Joyce, known for Industry and The Trap

What is Strike: The Ink Black Heart about?

The Ink Black Heart is the sixth book in the Cormoran Strike series, penned by JK Rowling under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. It follows on from Troubled Blood and the synopsis reads: "When frantic, dishevelled Edie Ledwell appears in the office begging to speak to her, private detective Robin Ellacott doesn't know quite what to make of the situation. The co-creator of a popular cartoon, The Ink Black Heart, Edie is being persecuted by a mysterious online figure who goes by the pseudonym of Anomie. Edie is desperate to uncover Anomie's true identity.

"Robin decides that the agency can't help with this - and thinks nothing more of it until a few days later, when she reads the shocking news that Edie has been tasered and then murdered in Highgate Cemetery, the location of The Ink Black Heart.

"Robin and her business partner Cormoran Strike become drawn into the quest to uncover Anomie's true identity. But with a complex web of online aliases, business interests and family conflicts to navigate, Strike and Robin find themselves embroiled in a case that stretches them to their limit."

When is the series on?

The premiere of Strike: The Ink Black Heart is set for Monday, December 16, at 9pm on BBC One. The second episode will air at 9pm on the following day. For the latest TV & Showbiz news, sign up to our newsletter

Episode three is set to air at 9pm on Monday, December 24, followed by the final instalment at 9.15pm on Christmas Eve. However, if you can't wait and want to binge-watch, all four episodes will be available on BBC iPlayer from December 16.

Strike: The Ink Black Heart premieres on Monday, December 16, at 9pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.