More Series 2 info and first promo image, via Geektown!

"Season Two of Channel 5’s critically acclaimed original crime drama Suspects, starring Fay Ripley, Damien Molony and Clare-Hope Ashitey will launch later this year with a 2 x 1 hour special featuring a stellar line up of guest artistes – Charlie Brooks(EastEnders, I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here), Dominic Power (Emmerdale, The Bill), Claire Cooper (Waking the Dead,Hollyoaks), Luke Newberry (In The Flesh, Sherlock) and Katie Jarvis (Fish Tank).

This two part special opens with barrister Jonathan Moxton found naked, tied up and covered in blood – it looks like a sex game has gone very wrong indeed. DI Martha Bellamy (Fay Ripley) and her team, DS Jack Weston (Damien Molony) and DC Charlotte ‘Charlie’ Steele (Clare-Hope Ashitey) soon suspect that it was actually a premeditated attack.  Who hit Jonathan with a hammer? And why is DS Jack Weston so rattled by this case?

Soon falling under suspicion are Jonathan’s dutiful and respectable wife, Tanya Moxton (Charlie Brooks), paranoid schizophrenic Saul Hammond (Dominic Power) and Saul’s appropriate adult Sadie Burns (Katie Jarvis). Uncovering more of Jonathan’s secrets leads the team to Nate Turner (Luke Newberry).  When a second man is found battered with a hammer, Martha, Jack and Charlie are horrified – this time the attack is fatal. Is Saul Hammond – whom they let out on bail – responsible for both attacks? As the investigation unfolds, drug-user Carol Collins (Claire Cooper) also comes under the spotlight. The team must catch this serial offender before they strike again."

read the full article here

SO excited !!  

This needs a bit of clarification:

"will return to screens with two hour-long specials in the autumn." (DS)

"will be comprised of five additional episodes, " (DS)

"will launch later this year with a 2 x 1 hour special" (GT)

"and a further two part special in which the team investigate a paedophile ring."(GT)

So are there two 2 part specials? (i.e 2 episodes per storyline) or are there two hour long specials (i.e episodes per storyline)?

It has to be the former surely as previous episodes have always been an hour including adverts (unless they mean an hour with ads on top) and if that is the case... 2 storylines may be filling a total 4 episodes...with 3 storylines of the original 5 left... so making them 2 part specials brings it to 7 episodes?

or is it the latter, with 2 new storylines on top of the 5 remaining episodes already filmed ?

domino!

"will launch later this year with a 2 x 1 hour special" (GT) <-- so, 2 special episodes that are 1 hour long, right?

"will return to screens with two hour-long specials in the autumn." (DS) <--- is this the same thing?

"and a further two part special in which the team investigate a paedophile ring."(GT) <--- and this? 

"will be comprised of five additional episodes, " (DS) <--- S3?

I'm confused and excited!

Ok this article from AV today clarifies it: it is a '2 part special' not "two hour long specials" !

RPLovesIpswich wrote:

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Charlie Brooks is my brother's girlfriend's cousin!

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 how very cool!

whimsyfox wrote:

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sounds like that's the case... #geddit

Feels like they want to make Suspects big. Possibly in a way they never intended in the beginning?  On the one hand it would be easy to assume this was all in the plans.  They were testing the waters with S1, and then decided it was definitely a hit, so they invested more resources into growing it.  They've brought in well known actors as guest stars.  Already feels like a good publicity campaign is taking off... But it's still seems odd that they filmed 10 episodes, announced 10 episodes, then cut S1 in half and are airing new episodes before the previously filmed ones.  On-the-fly decision based on it being widely received then?  As a lay person, I was actually worried it wasn't getting the attention and would not be renewed for a S2.  Thank goodness I was wrong!!!! 

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I pretty much agree with this.  I'd imagine it was an 'on-the-fly' decision by channel 5.  Presumably once they saw that the series was well recieved by the critics, they decided to pull the rest of the series and save it for a re-launch in the hope of getting more pubicity and better viewing figures.  I guess if it hadn't they'd have just let the 10eps run and forgotten about it.  And the fact that the 1st 5ps were well recieved, and people could see how it worked will have undoubtedly helped to draw in well know and popular actors as guest stars, which, in turn, increases awareness. 

However this/these 'specials' work, the term alone is enough to create a sense of hype....especially when coupled with 'guest stars'......

It looks like someone has already seen the new Suspects episodes... 

Oh maybe whimsy, the presence of the tv screen though does suggest there was at least some footage shown? (lucky lot!)

Also, I didn't pick up on your post earlier, but agree... this is the most intriguing and exciting sentence of the whole new 2 part special synopsis:

"And why is DS Jack Weston so rattled by this case?"