Karen Pirie is back on ITV with a second season, and it's just as sharp, smart and compelling as its debut. This time around, the newly promoted Detective Inspector Pirie (Lauren Lyle) must get to the bottom of the disappearance of young heiress Catriona Grant and her two-year-old son Adam.
Over the course of three long episodes, Karen Pirie takes viewers on a gripping ride that reels you in from the get-go and never lets up.
This Scotland-based drama is one we think is best savoured. To be enjoyed over the course of days, rather than binge-watched all in one sitting. Showrunner Emer Kenny packs a lot into three episodes, and those plot points shouldn't be guzzled down.
Still in a world where there's no shortage of crime dramas, and you can't flick to a new channel without stumbling on a fresh whodunit, why give Karen Pirie a chance? Well, we've got three simple reasons why you should be watching Karen Pirie right now.
Karen Pirie is a first-class TV detective
Karen Pirie isn't the only crime series to feature a well-developed female lead. In more recent years, we've seen the rise of woman detectives with the debuts of Mackenzie Clarke (Anna Samson) in Return to Paradise, marking the first for the franchise, and the honorary detectives keeping the not-so-quiet town of Marlow safe in The Marlow Murder Club. Of course, there's also the classic DCI Cassie Stuart (Nicola Walker) in Unforgotten, Happy Valley's Sergeant Catherine Cawood (Sarah Lancashire) and Detective Superintendent Stella Gibson (Gillian Anderson) in The Fall.
Despite these wonderful examples, the number of men leading crime dramas still heavily
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outweighs the female representation. So it's always worth celebrating a fully-fleshed out and well-written female detective, especially when they sleuth with such confidence and conviction.
DI Pirie is one such detective character, and with the new scope of authoritative control that her role brings in season two, we really get to see her stuck in.
Lead actor Lauren Lyle's Pirie is driven, assertive and passionate. She has a surety within herself that stops short of being cocky, but she isn't without flaws as she sometimes pushes the bounds of her confidence.
Lyle does a great job at allowing room for Pirie's vulnerabilities, letting some doubt crack through to the surface, which creates complexity in the character.
The characters
Karen Pirie isn't the only one pulling their weight in this drama. The three-part series is full of nuanced characters, with brilliant actors to fill those roles.
James Cosmo is absorbing as Sir Broderick Grant, as is Holby City's John Michie in the role of Fergus Sinclair. Julia Brown does a stunning job as kidnap victim Catriona Grant and DS Phil Parhatka (Zach Wyatt) complicates Karen's world as they attempt to navigate romance around work.
What Karen Pirie does best is to introduce these characters to the audience, give you a sense of who they are and how you should feel towards them, and then completely dismantle that with revelation after revelation.
In some ways it speaks to the complexity of human nature, and the shades of grey within us all. The notion of 'good and bad' feels so limiting in Karen Pirie, and when examined closely you find characters who are driven to act out of their norm by betrayal, pain, desperation and a myriad of other things that have heartbreaking consequences.
The unexpected twists
What is better than a crime drama with a twist? It's a tried and tested part of the genre, after all.
Karen Pirie isn't the only crime series that favours a series-spanning case over episodic mysteries – Bergerac and Trigger Point spring to mind – but, much like those we just mentioned, Karen Pirie's twists are executed convincingly well.
The revelations unfold in a way that mirrors DI Pirie's thought process. As she makes a discovery, so does the audience, and it is perceived almost as fact until a new piece of evidence comes to light, making the working theory redundant.
It gives you the feeling of being in the case rather than purely observing, which brings you closer to the action.
With these types of shows it's always great to deduce who the criminal is ahead of the final 'aha' moment, but while you may skirt close to the truth, Karen Pirie's second season will almost certainly surprise you in the end.
Karen Pirie seasons 2 airs Sundays 8pm on ITV1. Seasons 1 and 2 are also available to stream now on ITVX.
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TV writer, Digital Spy Janet completed her Masters degree in Magazine Journalism in 2013 and has continued to grow professionally within the industry ever since. For six years she honed her analytical reviewing skills at the Good Housekeeping institute eventually becoming Acting Head of Food testing. She also freelanced in the field of film and TV journalism from 2013-2020, when she interviewed A-List stars such as Samuel L Jackson, Colin Firth and Scarlett Johansson. In 2021 she joined Digital Spy as TV writer where she gets to delve into more of what she loves, watching copious amounts of telly all in the name of work. Since taking on the role she has conducted red carpet interviews with the cast of Bridgerton, covered the BAFTAs and been interviewed by BBC Radio and London Live. In her spare time she also moonlights as a published author, the book Gothic Angel.
