Martin Clunes stars in gripping trailer for ITV thriller Out There in first role since Doc Martin

Martin Clunes has teamed up with the producers of Manhunt for ITV's upcoming thriller, Out There – and it looks gripping.

The six-part series, which marks Martin's first acting role since Doc Martin ended in 2022, tells of county lines drug dealing and an escalating, insidious crime wave sweeping the British countryside.

While viewers are used to seeing Martin take on light-hearted and comedic roles in Men Behaving Badly and Doc Martin, his character couldn't be more different from other parts he's played.

The 63-year-old actor leads the cast as Nathan Williams, a farmer confronted with dark forces seeping into his rural community. In the trailer, Nathan's 15-year-old son Jonny, played by Louis Ashbourne Serkis, is pressured into looking after a drug dealer's supply of cannabis. Watch the trailer below.

The full synopsis reads: "The drama will depict the stealthy and surreptitious invasion of the land our farmer cherishes with devastating consequences as his livelihood, homestead and family life are threatened by local county lines drugs dealers who are essentially urban gangs using the British countryside as a field of operations and moving drugs and money between their inner-city hubs and provincial areas."

The series is penned by screenwriter Ed Whitmore (Steeltown Murders, Grace, Manhunt) and directed by Marc Evans (Steeltown Murders, Manhunt, The Pembrokeshire Murders), while Buffalo Pictures (Manhunt, Doc Martin, Arthur & George) are at the helm as producers.

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ITV has yet to share a release date for the show, which was commissioned last year.

Martin said at the time: "I'm very happy to be working with Marc Evans and Ed Whitmore again after the success of Manhunt. Out There couldn’t be more different from Doc Martin. It’s pretty dark, but definitely a story worth telling."

Writer and executive producer Ed said the story follows "a widowed farmer who discovers that his son has fallen foul of county lines".

"County lines is a particularly vicious and ruthless wave of drug dealing that uses fear and violence to coerce, often vulnerable, young people into working as runners and dealers. It has become a serious and rapidly increasing problem across the whole of the UK, so it felt like an important and timely story to tell," he said in a statement, adding: "I've always been fascinated by the notion of things being hidden in plain sight and the way in which different social worlds can co-exist cheek-by-jowl until, one day, they collide."