Strike season 6: Do Strike and Robin get together? Everything we know about the next instalment of the crime drama

If you need more of Cormoran and Robin in your lives, you'll be eager for news of Strike season 6 - let's delve into the release date, what it's about, and whether romance is on the cards.

As TV partnerships go, Cormoran Strike and Robin Ellacott are arguably up there with the most iconic. Not only do they challenge one another to be better people and even better detectives, thanks to J.K Rowling's (or Robert Galbraith) excellent writing, they get to crack some of the most epic cases in crime history. And absolutely nobody can ignore the will they/won't they sexual tension that surely has to bubble over into something more than friendship, because viewers simply cannot take it for much longer.

With the previous five Strike novels now adapted into major BBC dramas, all eyes are on whether book six, The Ink Black Heart, will play out on screen. We take a dive into everything we know about the sixth instalment of Strike, and what you need to know about the plot, release date and possibility of romance. If you're a fan of crime drama, you'll probably be keen for information about the latest series of Shetland, and to find out more about A Confession true story, as the show lands on Netflix - we like to find out everything about your favourite dramas for you.

Will there be a Strike season 6?

Yes, Strike season 6 will begin airing on December 16, and contains four episodes. The latest instalment is based on The Ink Black Heart novel, with the book being a whopping 1024 pages long. 

If you've read the book, you'll already know the incredible storyline. If you haven't, here are some key details without any spoilers. The Ink Black Heart is very different from others books in the series, and there's many pages within it of in-chat dialogue between the co-creators of an online game, Drek's Game, that has a huge fandom - it'll be really interesting to see how this translates to the screen.

The game is based on The Ink Black Heart, an even more successful web cartoon, with an even bigger fandom than the game it inadvertently spawns. One of the cartoon creators, Edie Ledwell, finds herself at the centre of horrendous online harassment. Believing her life is at risk and there's one main person is behind the abuse, she makes a desperate visit to Strike and Robin's office, but is turned away by Robin who advises her they don't have capacity to take on her case. 

When Edie has left, Robin only knows the person Edie believes to be targeting her, is known by the pseudonym of Anomie. Shortly after leaving her meeting with Robin, Edie is found tasered and stabbed to death in Highgate Cemetery. Incidentally, the cemetery is the setting for both The Ink Black Heart, and Drek's Game. Feeling compelled to solve the murder after her encounter with Edie, Robin and Strike are drawn into a complex world of online aliases and some murky, some quirky, characters. 

As always, the book covers heavy themes, including the idea of a detachment from reality when it's easy to hide your identity behind various covers and how this provides an easy breeding ground for online harassment. It also delves into the ideas of toxic fandoms, and fans' belief they have the right to make demands from creators purely because they have a dedication to the concept they've created.

There are red herrings at absolutely every corner, and you really will be left guessing Anomie's identity until the very last moments.

Do Strike and Robin get together?

If you're wondering whether Strike and Robin make it further than a drink at The Tottenham to discuss cases, sadly you're going to be disappointed - the pair still don't get together during The Ink Black Heart. There's a moment at the beginning of the story when there's nearly a kiss on Robin's 30th birthday, but the pair once again take different romantic trajectories and don't quite get there.

The lead actors, Tom Burke and Holliday Grainger, are well aware that along with the absorbing storylines, fans are drawn into the romantic subplot and hoping their characters will just go on and get together. 

The pair spoke to The Times about the apparent sexual attraction between Strike and Robin, with Tom saying he believes the "slow-burn – really slow-burn – mystery that’s cooking away between Strike and Robin" is definitely something that draws fans back in. 

He adds "I can imagine them [Robin and Strike] together, but whether that would sustain as an interesting thing for an audience? Probably not."

Strike season 6: Cast

Returning cast members include:

• Tom Burke (Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, The Souvenir) as Cormoran Strike
• Holliday Grainger (The Capture, Animals) as Robin Ellacott
• Ruth Sheen (Unforgotten, It’s A Sin) as Pat
• Jack Greenlees (The Trial of Cristine Keeler, Payback) as Sam Barclay
• Natasha O’Keeffe (Peaky Blinders, The Wheel of Time) as Charlotte
• Caitlin Innes Edwards (Hanna, Black Mirror: Smithereens) as Isla

New cast members in currently undisclosed roles include:

• David Westhead (Enola Holmes 2, Bodyguard)
• Christian McKay (Rivals, Dangerous Liaisons)
• Emma Fielding (Sanditon, Van der Valk)
• Tupele Dorgu (The Full Monty, Ridley)
• James Nelson-Joyce (Time, Industry)