Strike Series 7: Everything We Know So Far

First landing in the summer of 2017, the BBC’s crime drama Strike has quietly amassed a fiercely loyal following. Based on the novels of Robert Galbraith (a pseudonym for JK Rowling), the series orbits Cormoran Blue Strike (Tom Burke), a war veteran turned London private detective with a talent for unpicking knotty cases on the fringes of the city, aided by his assistant Robin Ellacott (Holliday Grainger). The result is a moody, gripping series that sidesteps the genre’s glossier clichés in favour of something sturdier, stranger and refreshingly old-school.

With six series under its belt, the BBC has revealed our first look at series 7, set to launch in 2026. Like previous series it is based on an individual Strike novel, this time The Running Grave which hit the shelves in 2023. Adapted by Tom Edge (who also adapted The Ink Black Heart, Troubled Blood, The Silkworm, Career of Evil and Lethal White) and directed by Sue Tully, here’s everything we know so far about Strike series 7.

Strike: The Running Grave: Plot, Cast, Release Date & More

Each series of Strike delves into a new mystery, and series 7 will follow the trend, bringing Galbraith/Rowling’s seventh novel to the small screen. Once again centring on our titular private detective (Burke) joined by his assistant Robin (Grainger), a new cast of characters will be embroiled in this instalment’s mystery, which delves into the duplicitous world of religious cults…

Cormoran Strike (TOM BURKE) in Strike: The Running Grave. (BBC/Bronte Film & TV/Susie Allnutt)

What Will Happen?

As always, Strike series 7 – this time subtitled The Running Grave – will open with Strike being approached with a fresh new case that the police aren’t interested in. This time, it’s Sir Colin (James Fleet) and Sally Edensor, two bereft parents desperate to reconnect with their estranged adult son Will (Fabian McCallum), who has been sucked into a religious cult known as the Universal Humanitarian Church in the Norfolk countryside.

From the outside, the organisation – which is based at Chapman Farm in Norfolk – seems peaceful, campaigning for a better world under the leadership of the charismatic Jonathan Wace (John Lynch), with celebrity backers and aggressive lawyers maintaining the charitable facade. But the Edensors enlist Strike to gather evidence to discredit the organisation. For one, the Universal Humanitarian Church has indoctrinated their son and siphoned off his trust fund. But when Strike and Robin delve deeper, they find something even more sinister: ill-treatment, abuse, even unexplained deaths.

While Strike gathers detail on the outside, Robin goes undercover on the inside, finding both psychological and physical distress and a twisted story at the centre of the church’s mythology: that the Drowned Prophet Daiyu has been divinely reincarnated. Solving this mystery is the key to solving the case – but it also sets her off on a dangerous journey.

Robin Ellacott (HOLLIDAY GRAINGER) & Cormoran Strike (TOM BURKE) in Strike: The Running Grave. (BBC/Bronte Film & TV/Justin Downing)

Who Will Star?

Tom Burke and Holliday Grainger will return to their starring roles as Cormoran Strike and Robin Ellacott. While Burke has starred in the likes of The Musketeers (2014–16), War & Peace (2016), Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024) and 2025’s super stylish spy movie Black Bag with Cate Blanchett, Michael Fassbender and Marisa Abela, he is undoubtedly best known for starring in Strike which he has led as grouchy veteran Cormoran Strike since 2017.

Grainger meanwhile rose to fame in The Borgias (2011–13), Great Expectations (2012), The Riot Club (2014) and Cinderella (2015), but is these days best known for leading another BBC series, The Capture, now approaching its third series.

A new investigation spells a new cast of characters (though there will be a handful of familiar faces, including beloved office manager Pat). Here’s who is expected to star in Strike series 7 alongside Burke and Grainger:

• Tom Burke as Cormoran Blue Strike
• Holliday Grainger as Robin Venetia Ellacott
• James Fleet as Sir Colin Edensor
• Nichola McAuliffe as Shelley Heaton
• Keeley Forsyth as Mazu Wace
• Fabian McCallum as Will Edensor
• John Lynch as Jonathan Wace
• Ruth Sheen as Pat
• Jack Greenlees as Sam Barclay
• Tupele Dorgu as Midge
• Natasha O’Keeffe as Charlotte
• Sarah Sweeney as Lucy
• Ben Crompton as Shanker
• Stephen Hagan as DCI Richard Murphy
• Caitlin Innes Edwards as Ilsa

Robin Ellacott (HOLLIDAY GRAINGER) & Cormoran Strike (TOM BURKE) in Strike: The Ink Black Heart. (BBC/Bronte Film & TV/Rob Youngson)

Why Does J.K. Rowling Use A Pen Name?

Robert Galbraith is J.K. Rowling’s pen name when the Harry Potter creator dabbles in crime fiction. When she set out to publish her Strike novels, Rowling crafted an entirely new persona for herself. Why? ‘I really wanted to go back to the beginning of a writing career in this new genre, to work without hype or expectation and to receive totally unvarnished feedback,’ Rowling writes. ‘I wanted it to be just about the writing.’

As well as penning The Cuckoo’s Calling (2013) – the first novel in the Strike series – Rowling crafted an entire backstory for Robert Galbraith. He’s a military man who worked in the civilian security industry – so he had a good excuse not to appear in public or have a headshot on his book jacket. Unfortunately for Rowling, however, her cover was blown just three months after The Cuckoo’s Calling hit the shelves. On the flip side, after shifting just 1,500 copies in those first three months, the novel shot to the top of the book charts, and had sold more than 1 million copies by 2015.

Looking back, Rowling writes: ‘It was a fantastic experience and I only wish it could have gone on a little longer than it did. I was grateful at the time for all the feedback from publishers and readers, and for some great reviews. Being Robert Galbraith was all about the work, which is my favourite part of being a writer.

‘Since my cover has been blown, I continue to write as Robert to keep the distinction from other writing and because I rather enjoy having another persona,’ Rowling adds. This is taken from Galbraith’s website, and all sounds very amicable – so it’s worth noting that Rowling was initially so disappointed in being discovered that she sued the individuals who blew her cover. Who was at fault? A woman named Judith Callegari, the best friend of the wife of Christopher Gossage, a lawyer who worked at Rowling’s solicitors, Russells. ‘To say I am disappointed is an understatement,’ Rowling said in a statement at the time. ‘A tiny number of people knew my pseudonym and it has not been pleasant to wonder for days how a woman whom I had never heard of prior to Sunday night could have found out something that many of my oldest friends did not know.’

Rowling – whose real name is now Joanne Murray after her 2001 marriage – received a full apology from Russells as well as costs and substantial damages, which were donated to the Soldiers Charity.

As of 2025, there are eight books in Galbraith/Rowling’s Strike series, the most recent being the circa-1000 page The Hallmarked Man, which we hope will eventually be turned into series 8 of Strike. And according to Rowling on X, her ninth instalment to the series is ‘well underway’.

Release Date

Strike: The Running Man will launch in 2026, but no further news just yet from the BBC on exactly when we will get to see it.

To date, there has been a two year gap between each of the previous four series of Strike, with The Ink Black Heart airing just before Christmas 2024. In 2022 it was another festive airing of Troubled Blood, but Strike has actually most frequently been released in September.

With new details revealed by the BBC already, we’re hoping for the first half of 2026.

All seven series of Strike are available to stream on BBC iPlayer.