The Gone | Series 2 Preview (BBC Two)

The six-part series follows the journey of Irish detective Theo Richter (Richard Flood) who teams up with a Kiwi detective, Diana Huia (Acushla-Tara Kupe), when a young Irish couple go missing from a rural New Zealand town. Their job isn’t made any easier by the community's growing concern that the disappearances may be linked to a series of historical murders, putting the whole town on edge.

Episode 1: Irish detective Theo Richter is poised to board his flight back to Dublin, having closed the kidnapping case that brought him to New Zealand. He plans to return to Ireland with Irish journalist Aileen Ryan as he starts to come to terms with a recent devastating diagnosis.

But when Aileen fails to arrive at the airport, Richter again teams up with Māori detective Diana Huia to begin the search. Aileen was following a lead on the identity of the Goat Man, responsible for the unsolved Mountain Murders over a decade earlier.

When Richter and Huia find signs of a violent struggle, they widen the police search and bring in local Māori trackers to help.

Episode 2: When a trashed car and abandoned phone are found on the mountain, near the hut where Aileen disappeared, detectives Diana and Richter realise Aileen was with someone else before she was attacked and fled.

Richter struggles with his complicated feelings for Aileen when clues from the car lead to a familiar but troubling face - another Irish person who is missing. The Māori trackers expand the search to include a promising new area of the mountain as the police close in on Aileen’s location, but just as the missing pair are found, tragedy strikes.

Episode 3: What happened to Aileen and Derry is finally revealed, while as Diana and Richter grapple with the murder case now on their hands. Richter confesses his feelings to a traumatised Aileen.

The team discover that Aileen and Derry were lured to the hut by the same person and strongly suspect it could be the real Mountain Murderer, with Diana realising this could be her chance to uncover what happened to her own mother all those years ago.

Episode 4: A spiralling Sinead reaches breaking point as she seeks vigilante justice at the backpacker’s hostel, while Aileen confronts Derry’s widow, who then seeks out Judge Martin for assistance in righting a wrong back in Dublin.

When the killer leaves clues for the team that lead them to a sacred place, they need to heal past wounds to pursue their lead. A new, unlikely suspect emerges.

Episode 5: As the team investigate the evidence found at suspect Mervin’s farm, they become convinced there is someone else out there pulling the strings. Aileen reconciles with Richter, spurring him to take some advice from Dr Ray about his Huntington’s disease.

Judge Hannah Martin and her daughter Sinead finally confront their past traumas and make an important decision. But news comes in that violent criminal Frank Pastors has escaped from prison.

Episode 6: Mt Affinity is locked down in the aftermath of another brutal killing, and lead suspect Frank Pastors is still on the run from prison. Richter recuperates in the clinic, while Diana finally speaks her truth to Val. The team question if Frank is truly the Mountain Murderer as the race is on to capture him and prevent another killing.

A violent and fatal confrontation ensues as the Mountain Murderer closes in on their next victim, with Richter forced to face his worst fear.

The Gone returns Thursday 31st July on BBC Two.