Karen Pirie | Series 2 Preview (ITV1)

Double BAFTA Scotland winner Lauren Lyle reprises her role as audience-favourite Detective Inspector Karen Pirie, with a riveting new case to solve. The 3 x 120’ drama, based on celebrated author Val McDermid’s A Darker Domain and adapted by Emer Kenny will return for a second series.

After her bittersweet success in series one, Karen has been promoted to Detective Inspector and seemingly given the authority she has long been fighting for.

Just as she’s getting into the swing of her powerful new role, she is assigned an infamous unsolved case that will put her under intense scrutiny; from her boss, from the media, and ultimately, from sinister forces that would rather the past stayed in the past. 

The 1984 case of Catriona and Adam Grant has confounded investigators and intrigued the public like no other. Catriona, the charming young heiress to a vast oil fortune, and her two year old son Adam, were brutally kidnapped at gunpoint outside a fish and chip shop in Fife.

The ransom notes that followed stirred up an uncontrollable press storm, but when the culprits fell silent, the police faltered, and Catriona and Adam were never seen again.

Now, a man’s body has been discovered, with indisputable links to the original kidnap. With the first piece of evidence in decades, Karen must assemble an unbeatable team alongside her sincere and lovable sidekick DC Jason ‘Mint’ Murray (Chris Jenks) and the brilliant – but romantically complicated – DS Phil Parhatka (Zach Wyatt).

With the international renown of the kidnap and the constant pressure from Catriona’s father, Sir Broderick Grant (James Cosmo), the team take on the biggest challenge of their careers to date. As Karen delves deeper into what happened in the autumn of 1984, political grudges and painful secrets reveal themselves, and it soon becomes clear… the past is far from dead. 

Lauren Lyle (Outlander, The Outrun) appears alongside series one regulars Chris Jenks (Sex Education, Vigil), Zach Wyatt (Timestalker, The Witcher: Blood Origin), Steve John Shepherd (Harry Potter), Emer Kenny (The Curse), and Rakhee Thakrar (Wonka). Joining the returning cast are Saskia Ashdown (Six Four), James Cosmo (Braveheart), Frances Tomelty (Unforgotten), and John Michie (Holby City).

Bringing the 1980s to life are previously announced cast members Julia Brown (World on Fire), Mark Rowley (One Day), Kat Ronney (Dinosaur), Conor Berry (Schemers), Stuart Campbell (The Winter King), Jamie Michie (Back to Life), Madeleine Worrall (The Legend of Tarzan).

Plus Jack Stewart (Outlander), Thoren Ferguson (Rebus), and Helen Katamba (The Nest). New additions to the present-day storyline include James Fleet (Bridgerton), Tom Mannion (Mr Selfridge), and Tommaso Basili (Martin Scorsese Presents: The Saints).

Karen Pirie returns Sunday 20th July at 8pm on ITV1.