Grace series 5: Peaky Blinders and Black Mirror stars lead game-changing episode 3 guest cast

Grace series 5: Peaky Blinders and Black Mirror stars lead game-changing episode 3 guest cast

By Dave Golder | Sun Apr 20 2025

There's a hellishly bumpy ride in store for the cast of Grace in episode 3 of the latest series.

After last week’s identity theft-themed episode guest starring Holli Dempsey and Mark Noble there’s more hi-tech crime this week in a story (titled Need You Dead) involving the murder of the app developer.

Guest stars from Game Of Thrones, Peaky Blinders, Coronation Street and Black Mirror are on board to help out, but it’s a couple of regular characters who step into the spotlight this time.

And there are plenty of twists and shocks along the way. File under: game changer.

What happens in Grace series 5, episode 3?

With the powers-that-be at East Sussex Police calling for a crackdown on organised crime in Brighton, Team Grace is under pressure to get results in the latest case.

At first the murder of a mental health app entrepreneur doesn’t seem connected with the local gangsters. But the case starts connecting with an old, unsolved drive-by shooting (the ‘Amelia Pardoe case’) in unsettling ways.

Meanwhile, Roy and Zoe discuss whether to try for another baby, and whether to take on more responsibility for Bruno. And Glenn asks someone unexpected to look into his wife’s medical misconduct case.

Here’s a rundown of this episode’s most where-have-I-seen-them-before? faces…

Who guest stars in Grace series 5, episode 3?

Former Iron Throne contender Gethin Anthony guest stars as Marcus O’Sullivan [Credit: ITV]

Gethin Anthony is Marcus O’Sullivan

Like his wife Jessica, Dr Marcus O’Sullivan went to university with Hannah Belling, the woman whose death kicks off this episode. They’ve all remained friends ever since, through thick and thin, including Hannah’s recent split from her husband.

Actor Gethin Anthony played the least bloodthirsty contender for the Iron Throne in the first two seasons of Game of Thrones – Renly Baratheon, the homosexual younger brother of the more pointy, stabby Stannis and Robert Baratheon.

As Lord of Storm's End, Renly gave female warrior Brienne of Tarth a place in his Kingsguard, a gesture she never forgot (he also danced with her, and she was a little besotted with him). So when he was killed by the witch Melisandre, Brienne vowed vengeance for him, and kept going on about it for the next few seasons.

He also starred as FBI agent Jack Brennan in all 10 episodes of the second season of the US thriller Manhunt in 2020, and had a memorable stint playing ’60s cult leader Charles Manson in the David Duchovny-starring US TV series Aquarius (2015-2016).

Loreece Harrison appears as Lauren Packham

Lauren is a cleaner at the offices of Heal Remedy, the mental health app start-up created by Hannah Belling. She was the last person to lock up on the night of Hannah’s murder.

Loreece Harrison, who plays Lauren, made a memorable appearance in Black Mirror’s third season in 2016, as a character that didn’t even exist. She was the idealised ‘dream girl’ whom mutant-killing soldier Stripe (Malachi Kirby) fantasised living with in his dream home.

You may have also caught her in four episodes of the final season of the wonderfully bonkers Pennyworth (2022) – the comic book TV series based on the early years of Batman’s faithful butler, Alfred. She played Celia, a girl with super-hypnotic eyes who spent most of her time on the show wearing outsized techno-goggles.

Naomi Yang plays the murder victim’s “friend for life”, Jessica O’Sullivan [Credit: ITV]

Naomi Yang plays Jessica O’Sullivan

Jessica has known Hannah since university. “Hannah took me under her wing… Friends for life,” says Jessica. But she’s not so keen on Hannah’s flaky, loser brother, Robbie, a man they nicknamed Houdini because he kept vanishing out of Hannah’s life.

You may recognise Grace guest cast member Naomi from a very different kind of role – she played Li, wife of Han, an opium dealer operating out of a cafe in Birmingham's Chinatown, in the final season of Peaky Blinders (2022).

She was also a recurring character in last year’s second season of ITV’s DI Ray, starring Parminder Nagra. Naomi played Hiroka McGregor, Ray’s police rep.

Naomi has also had one-off guest appearances in New Blood (2016), DCI Banks (2016), Brassic (2019) and Endeavour (2020).

Andrew Knott, fresh from being a suspect in The Marlow Murder Club, is now a suspect in Grace, as the murder victim’s husband, Corin [Credit: ITV]

Andrew Knott guest stars as Corin Belling

IT consultant Corin Belling is the former husband of murder victim Hannah. They only split six months ago and he’s not handling it well. Could he be spiralling back into old ways?

Corin is played by Andrew Knott, who was very recently seen as a woodworker with a short fuse in The Marlow Murder Club.

Previously, he was possibly best known for a recurring role on one of the BBC’s most successful ever comedies, Gavin & Stacey, up until the final Christmas special. Andrew played the short-fused Dirtbox, one of Gavin and Smithy’s Billericay crew.

Earlier in his career he had a stint on the popular Yorkshire small town-based drama Where The Heart Is (from 1997 to 2001), playing Henry Green as he grew from a self-conscious schoolboy to unlucky-in-love supermarket manager.

Earlier this year Andrew played DI Richard Bewley in all six episodes of the Siobhan Finneran-starring ITV crime mini-series, Protection.

He has also had guest roles in Ackley Bridge, Silent Witness, Casualty (as multiple different characters) and Father Brown. On the big screen, he was one of the core characters in The History Boys (alongside Gavin & Stacey’s James Corden again).

Sara Josh (Kiran Landa) is one of the friendlier local journalists the team at East Sussex police have had to deal with [Credit: ITV]

Kiran Landa appears as Sara Joshi

Sara Joshi is a local journalist – for the Argus – who’s had dealings with Team Grace before, but she’s moved on from that. “Thankfully, crime scenes are no longer my department,” she tells Glenn.

She now concentrates on “public health, medicine, that sort of thing” (as Glenn tells Ari later on) and is only dragged back into the world of crime when her latest interviewee, Hannah Belling, is murdered shortly after their meeting.

Glenn also uses the opportunity to ask Sara for some help with his wife’s malpractice hearing.

Joshi is played by Kiran Landa, who will be familiar to Coronation Street fans. Between 2021 and 2023 she played Marrium Nazir, second wife of Speed Daal-founder, Zeedan Nazir. She was the one with the psycho dad who was none too happy when Zeedan had an affair.

Cue a storyline full of beatings, threats, money laundering, the Speed Daal burning down and Marrium’s dad dying of a heart attack.

Kiran Landa has also had one-off appearances in Wire In The Blood (2005), Doctors (2011), Hollyoaks (2012), Line Of Duty (2016) and Ackley Bridge (2017).

Enjoy Hannah Belling (Lisa Diveney) while you can [Credit: ITV]

Lisa Diveney appears as Hannah Belling

Hannah is this episode’s first murder victim, found in her flat in Lewiston Mansions the night after cutting short an interview with Sara Joshi.

She’s 35, a former psychiatrist who’s just launched an award-winning mental health app designed to help lower stress levels. She’s recently split from husband Corin, but does that have any bearing on her death?

Although Lisa Diveney, who plays Hannah, hasn’t been on our screens much in recent years (a guest spot on Whitstable Pearl in 2022 and another in a Harlots in 2017 with a few short films in between), back in the noughties she starred in one of the BBC’s biggest sitcoms.

She played Beth in the first three seasons of the Only Fools And Horses spin-off The Green, Green Grass. Beth was the Welsh girlfriend of Boycie and Marlene’s son Tyler – a militant vegetarian and green campaigner who never won the Boyces over to her way of thinking.

Nimmy March plays Margaret Packham

Margaret is Lauren’s mother, and she suspects her daughter has something to hide but is having no luck getting Lauren to open up.

Nimmy March has had a long TV career with guest star roles in everything from barbershop sitcom Desmond’s in 1989 to Vera in 2024, with such prestige comedies and dramas as A Touch of Frost (1995), Goodnight Sweetheart (1995-1996), London’s Burning (2000), Waking The Dead (2008), Wallander (2015) and Death in Paradise (2016) in between.

But for those with very long memories she was a regular in The Lenny Henry Show from 1997-1998. No, not his sketch show but the sitcom it evolved into, centring on Henry’s DJ character Delbert Wilkins. Nimmy played Delbert’s ‘girlie’ Claudette.