What Will Happen In Karen Pirie Series 2?

Oh, Karen Pirie: three episodes of gripping goodness which aired in autumn 2022. Series 2 has been in the works since early 2023, and we were starting to lose hope – so we were thrilled to hear ITV had confirmed an air date for the sequel series. Here’s everything you need to know.

Karen Pirie Series 2: Plot, Cast, Release Date & More

Fans were enamoured when the first series of Karen Pirie aired in autumn 2022, featuring three film-like two-hour-long episodes, all tracing the same knotty case. There’s a lot to love: the length, depth and brilliance resembles the golden age of the BBC’s Sherlock starring Benedict Cumberbatch, while the action is based on the work of bestselling tartan noir writer Val McDermid, adapted by one of Britain’s most exciting writing talents of the moment, Emer Kenny, who also stars.

In 2023, Kenny told C&TH the news of a second series felt ‘good – and daunting’. ‘The first [series] took me four years from beginning to end, and was received very well, so I feel like I have set the standard quite high,’ she said.

‘It was my first time on set as a writer and exec, and it was exhilarating,’ Kenny added. ‘Gareth Bryn, the director, is utterly brilliant and so collaborative, and me and Lauren Lyle, who plays Karen, had a real meeting of minds. She’s a creative force and I adore writing for her.’

EMER KENNY as River Wilde and LAUREN LYLE as Karen Pirie in series 2. (© ITV)

The first series introduced us to the titular detective sergeant, played by Lauren Lyle, who is put in charge of a 25-year-old cold case, now the subject of a popular true crime podcast. ‘It’s the first time we are seeing a crime drama about a very young underestimated female detective in her 20s, paired with the fact that she’s both hopeful and driven to solve the crime,’ Lyle told C&TH in 2022. ‘The show holds no worn tropes or stereotypes, in fact it makes fun of them and we see the conservative, male dominated world of the police through a passionate, fresh lens of this realistic young woman.’

Karen Pirie was one of ITV’s most-watched new dramas in 2022. Here’s what Pirie will be faced with in series 2…

SASKIA ASHDOWN as DC Isla Ray, LAUREN LYLE as Karen Pirie and CHRIS JENKS as DC Jason Murray. (© ITV)

What Will Happen In Karen Pirie Series 2?

Series 1 left Karen with a bittersweet triumph and a promotion to boot. But just as she’s getting into the swing of her new role as detective inspector – the professional recognition and authority she has been longing for – she is assigned to an infamous cold case that thrusts her back into the scathing light of scrutiny: from her boss, from the media, and from the sinister powers who would ultimately prefer the case remain unsolved.

The case whisks us back to 1984, when a young heiress to a vast oil fortune was kidnaped at gunpoint outside a Fife fish and chip shop, along with her two-year-old son. Ransom notes from the kidnappers immediately ensued – before a sinister quiet. The police faltered in the face of that unexpected absence of noise. Catriona and Adam have not been seen since.

But now a body shows up: a man’s body with links to the original kidnap. It’s the first piece of evidence in decades, and Karen is immediately on the case. Hounded by Catriona’s father, Sir Broderick Grant (James Cosmo), it’s certainly her career’s biggest challenge to date, and she assembles an unbeatable team to tackle it: her sincere and lovable sidekick DC Jason ‘Mint’ Murray (Chris Jenks), and the brilliant DS Phil Parhatka (Zach Wyatt). As political grudges and painful secrets are unearthed, they find the past is far from dead and buried.

ZACH WYATT as Phil Parhatka and LAUREN LYLE as Karen Pirie. (© ITV)

The Karen Pirie Cast

Returning stars include:

• Lauren Lyle as DI Karen Pirie
• Chris Jenks as DC Jason ‘Mint’ Murray
• Zach Wyatt as DS Phil Parhatka
• Steve John Shepherd as DI Simon Lees
• Emer Kenny as River Wilde
• Rakhee Thakrar as Bel Richmond

Speaking on filming series one, Lyle described leading the series as ‘a whole new world’. ‘I’ve never done that before,’ she said. ‘I felt like I was hosting a party and just wanted everyone to have a good time. It was the best. I also felt an immense responsibility to keep the tone on set inspiring while also honouring the intensity of the part and really allowing myself to immerse into playing Karen Pirie and becoming enveloped in the case.

‘I was exhausted the entire time whilst parading a big grin,’ Lyle said. ‘As a team we really couldn’t believe what we were being allowed to make which gave me loads of energy.’

JAMES COSMO as Brodie Grant Snr in Karen Pirie series 2. (© ITV)

Joining the Karen Pirie cast for series 2 are:

• Saskia Ashdown
• James Cosmo as Brodie Grant Snr
• Frances Tomelty
• John Michie
• Julia Brown as Cat Grant
• Mark Rowley as Mick Prentice
• Kat Ronney
• Conor Berry
• Stuart Campbell
• Jamie Michie
• Madeleine Worrall
• Jack Stewart
• Thoren Ferguson
• Helen Katamba
• James Fleet
• Tom Mannion
• Tommaso Basili

What Is It Based On?

The second series of Karen Pirie is based on A Darker Domain by Val McDermid (2008), the second novel in her Karen Pirie series. The first TV series was based on McDermid’s first Pirie novel, The Distant Echo (2003).

JULIA BROWN as Cat Grant. (© ITV)

Will There Be Karen Pirie Series 3?

No news just yet from ITV on the possibility of Karen Pirie series 3 – but there’s certainly grounds for it. Val McDermid has published seven Pirie novels to date, with an eighth set to be published in October 2025, so there is plenty of content to mine and adapt for television screens.

The third novel, The Skeleton Road (2014), sees Pirie faced with a case involving builders, free climbers, skeletons – and a victim from as far away as Yugoslavia.

Release Date

Karen Pirie will return to UK screens in July, before airing on BritBox in the US and Canada in October. Like series 1, expect three, two-hour-long episodes tracing one case.

WATCH

Catch up with the first series of Karen Pirie on ITVX.