A gripping new ITV drama from the producers of Line of Duty has got plenty of viewers talking
Viewers have been left praising the return of an ITV crime drama that they ended up ‘binging in one go’.
The second series of Karen Pirie finally premiered on Sunday night (July 20) – three years after the show debuted on screens. Based on the Inspector Karen Pirie series of novels by Val McDermid, the ITV programme is produced by World Productions – the creators behind Line of Duty and Bodyguard.
The ITV show follows officer Karen Pirie played by Lauren Lyle. In the new series, Karen has found herself promoted to detective inspector.
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And it doesn’t take her long to get involved in some drama as she is assigned to crack another cold case. This time, it’s to do with an infamous unsolved case from over 30 years ago, that saw the kidnapping of heiress Catriona Grant (Julia Brown) and her young son.
However, a man’s body has now been found with indisputable links to the original kidnap. As a result, Karen makes it her mission to find out the truth – with her and her team taking on the biggest challenge of their careers to date.
And within just minutes of Karen Pirie airing, fans were left sharing their excitement at the show’s return. On X, one person said: “So happy it’s back. A proper detective series with interesting characters and storylines.”
Someone else added: “The new Line of Duty I think!” A third chimed in: “Watched the first three episodes already! So good.” Another then declared: “Feel like I’ve been waiting a lifetime for this new series.”
Karen Pirie boasts a stellar cast too, including Chris Jenks as DC Jason Murray, Zach Wyatt as DS Phil Parhatka, Steve John Shepherd as DI Simon Lees and Emer Kenny as River Wilde.
Talking about the return of Karen Pirie , actress Lauren Lyle shared: “I’m thrilled that we will continue the life of our fearless young detective Karen Pirie, and of course, her bumbag.
“I’ve known for a while how well the show has gone down behind the scenes so it’s been a joy to see audiences want more.
“It’s a creative honour to work alongside Emer Kenny with the backbone of Val McDermid’s story. Season 1 was incredibly exciting building an original character we hadn’t seen before. I look forward to getting the gang back together and finally being able to answer the question: ‘Please say there will be a season 2?’ with an ‘Oh yes.'”
You can watch Karen Pirie on ITV and ITVX.