(L-R) Jennifer Spence, Laura Fraser, Molly Windsor and Martin Compston.
Traces is a suspense-filled crime thriller based on an original idea by best-selling crime writer Val McDermid (Wire In The Blood, A Place Of Execution), written by Amelia Bullmore (Scott & Bailey, This Life) and set in the world of forensic science in Dundee, Scotland.
The star-studded, award-winning cast include Molly Windsor (Three Girls, Cheat), Laura Fraser (The Missing, Breaking Bad), Jennifer Spence (You Me Her, Travelers) with Martin Compston (Monarch of the Glen, Line of Duty), Laurie Brett (EastEnders), Vincent Regan (Delicious, The White Princess), Michael Nardone (Shetland, Silent Witness) and John Gordan Sinclair (Marple, Ill Behaviour).
When Emma Hedges (Molly Windsor) returns to Dundee to start her new job as a lab technician, she's encouraged to take part in an online course teaching the principles of forensic science. Given a fictitious murder case, her task is to identify the victim and establish how they died. But having completed the first module, Emma knows exactly who the victim is: her own mum! Marie Monroe (Carly Anderson) was murdered when Emma was seven, her body discovered on Law Hill and no-one has ever been convicted. But why are Sarah Gordon (Laura Fraser), professor of chemistry, and Kathy Torrance (Jennifer Spence), professor of forensic anthropology, using her mother's case for their course?
Determined to discover what happened to Marie, but unable to get answers from her family, Emma turns to Sarah who offers up trusted friend DI McKinven (Michael Nardone) as the natural place for Emma to take her revelations.
As Emma re-connects with her dad Drew (John Gordon Sinclair), her childhood friend Skye (Jamie Marie Leary) and Skye's mum Izzy (Laurie Brett), while falling for the gentle and irresistible Daniel (Martin Compston), her sleuthing takes her into dark corners, unpicking more and more secrets, and it becomes clear that she should trust no-one.
It will be Sarah and Kathy's exacting minds that reward Emma's faith in the science that has fuelled her imagination, and who will ultimately bring her mother's killer to justice.