Jimmy McGovern’s BBC1 crime and punishment series Accused will be returning for a second series.

Filming on the first two stories will take place in and around Manchester before Christmas, and the final two tales will be completed by February 2012.

Focusing on a different story each week, names signed up for Accused include Anne-Marie Duff (Shameless, The Virgin Queen), Olivia Colman (Rev, Peep Show), John Bishop (Route Irish, Skins), Robert Sheehan (Misfits), Sheridan Smith (Love Soup, Two Pints Of Lager And A Packet Of Crisps), Thomas Brodie-Sangster (Nanny McPhee, Love Actually), Joe Dempsie (Skins, Fades, This Is England '86), Josh Bolt (The Be All And End All) and Oliver Lee (Waterloo Road, Wired).

The first story features Anne-Marie Duff and Olivia Colman as mums on an estate standing up against gangs, guns and crime.

In the second tale teenager Stephen (Robert Sheehan) is convinced that his mum’s palliative care nurse Charlotte (Sheridan Smith, left) has a very different agenda. Stephen becomes paranoid about his younger brother Dom’s (Josh Bolt) welfare, and is also at odds with his dad Peter (John Bishop).

Nick Fiaca