The Long Call follows DI Matthew Venn, who’s returned to a small community in North Devon to live with his husband. He grew up in the Barum Brethren, but abandoned the strict evangelical community to go to university at 19. At this point, he publicly declared he no longer believed, much to his mother’s dismay.

After a body is found on a beach near Matthew’s home, a shadow of doubt is cast across the entire community. Matthew will work closely with DC Jen Rafferty, a fiercely determined single mother who moved to Devon to escape her traumatic past life in London.

Matthew’s return forces him to readdress his difficult relationship with his mother, and the murder case will open up old wounds, and Matthew will uncover a deadly secret in order to expose the killer.

Talking about his character, lead actor Ben Aldridge explained to us: "We meet him at the start of the series having returned to his hometown where he had left — or kind of been exiled from — 20 years previously. It's complicated — he could no longer stay there, but also he was no longer welcome because he was raised in a very strict religious community that no longer aligned with his beliefs.

"We first meet him attending his father's funeral, which he is not allowed to be part of, and that's when he finds out about the dead body on the beach."