Former EastEnders actress Tamzin Outhwaite will star in the second series of The Tower.

Titled Death Message, the season will be based on the second book in Kate London’s Metropolitan series of novels and was adapted by screenwriter Patrick Harbinson, whose credits include Homeland and 24.

Outhwaite, who departed BBC soap EastEnders in 2019 21 years after debuting as Mel Owen, will join the cast of the police procedural as Cathy Teel.

Irish actress Niamh Cusack, best known for starring in Heartbeat, will also join the show as Claire Mills alongside Ella Smith as DC Elaine Lucas.

They will join Gemma Whelan who returns as DS Sarah Collins and Tahirah Sharif, who was recently nominated for a supporting actress Bafta for her performance as PC Lizzie Adama.

Also returning are Jimmy Akingbola as DC Steve Bradshaw and Emmett J Scanlan as DI Kieran Shaw.

Trainspotting and 28 Days Later actor Stuart McQuarrie also joins the cast in the role of Sarah’s new boss, DCI Jim Fedden.

Gentleman Jack
Gemma Whelan (Danny Lawson/PA)

Harbinson said: “It’s a tribute to the quality of Kate’s novels and her complex female characters that we have been able to attract these three brilliant actresses to The Tower.”

The series is filming in the North West of England.

Mammoth Screen and Windhover Films will produce the four-part drama in association with ITV Studios.

Author London is a former Metropolitan Police officer who finished her career working as part of a major investigation team on the homicide and serious crime command.