Karen Pirie | Preview (ITV)

Lauren Lyle stars as Karen Pirie in ITV cold case murder drama, based on acclaimed author Val McDermid’s The Distant Echo and adapted by Emer Kenny.

Outlander star Lauren Lyle takes the lead role of Karen Pirie in a new ITV drama series from the producers of Line of Duty and Bodyguard, World Productions.

Adapted by Emer Kenny (Harlots, Save Me Too) who will also take the role of Karen’s friend River Wilde, Karen Pirie also stars Chris Jenks (Sex Education) as Jason ‘The Mint’ Murray and Zach Wyatt (Blithe Spirit) as DS Phil Parhatka.

In St Andrews, three drunken students are discovered at the scene of a murder. Young barmaid Rosie Duff has been assaulted, stabbed and left for dead.

And the only suspects are the three young men now stained with her blood, claiming to have stumbled across her on the way home from a party.

Twenty-five years later, Rosie’s unsolved murder has become the subject of a provocative true crime podcast and Detective Sergeant Karen Pirie is put in charge of the cold case review.

But as complications within the investigation grow, it becomes increasingly apparent that Rosie harboured a long-held family secret that could potentially unlock the mysteries surrounding the case.

When new evidence emerges implicating one of the students, Karen hunts down the suspect to get their version of the story.

Karen Pirie begins Sunday 25th September at 8pm on ITV.