Above Suspicion: The Red Dahlia (2010)

Kelly Reilly as DC Anna Travis and Ciarán Hinds as DCI James Langton stand looking at a board which has photos and newspaper clippings of The Black Dahlia pasted all over it. Both Reilly and Hinds are wearing suits, and Hinds is holding a torch.

Ciaran Hinds and Kelly Reilly in Above Suspicion (2010) © ITV

Director: Gillies MacKinnon
Writer: Lynda La Plante
Starring: Kelly Reilly, Ciarán Hinds, Shaun Dingwall, Celyn Jones, Amanda Lawrence
Production Companies: La Plante Productions, RLJ Entertainment, RLJ Productions
Kent Locations Used: Westgate-on-Sea, West Bay House

Based on the series of books by Lynda La Plante, Above Suspicion (2009-2012) was an ITV crime-drama series about a female detective trying to survive in a male-dominated industry. Each series focuses on a different homicide case, as the team desperately try to track down the killers.

Series 2, titled ‘The Red Dahlia’, sees the return of ambitious female detective Anna Travis (Kelly Reilly) and her boss, Detective Constable James Langton (Ciarán Hinds). Together they must tackle their most terrifying case to date: the discovery of a woman’s mutilated body in the Thames. They soon realise they face a copy-cat killer who re-enacts the murders of the infamous 1940’s Black Dahlia case.

All three episodes are directed by Gillies MacKinnon (Small Faces, Trojan Eddie) and star Kelly Reilly (Sherlock Holmes (2009), Pride and Prejudice (2005)) as DC Anna Travis, Ciarán Hinds (Belfast, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) as DCI James Langton, Shaun Dingwall (Top Boy (2019-2022), Doctor Who) as DI Mike Lewis, Celyn Jones (Set Fire to the Stars, Submergence) as DS Paul Barolli, and Amanda Lawrence (The Amazing Mr Blunden (2021), Summerland (2020)) as DC Joan Faulkland.

The production came to Westgate-on-Sea in Thanet to film various scenes for Episodes 1 & 2. The promenade features in various flashback sequences which see Louise Pennel (Ty Glaser) looking out to sea. The exterior of St Cecelia’s House on Sea Road doubled as the exterior of Mrs Pennel’s (Hildegard Neil) home, and the interior was filmed at West Bay House.

Westgate-on-Sea is a civil parish on the north-east coast of Kent. It is a charming Victorian town with two fantastic blue flag beaches – West Bay and St Mildred’s Bay. Previous productions to have filmed in Westgate-on-Sea include True Love (2012) and Series 2 of Humans (2016).

Above Suspicion: Red Dahlia – Part 1 aired on ITV on Monday 4th January 2010, with the subsequent episodes airing on the following days.

For more information about Kent’s Filming History please visit our Movie Map.