A brand new crime drama starring Outlander star Lauren Lyle is starting tonight, Sunday, September 24, on ITV at 8pm. Karen Pirie is the broadcaster's newest cold case murder mystery series and has been adapted by screen writer and actress Emer Kenny from best-selling Scottish author Val McDermind's novel The Distant Echo.
The show will see a talented cast come together for an exciting and intriguing new series by the producers of Line of Duty and Bodyguard - World Productions - and follows the story of Detective Sergeant Karen Pirie (Lauren Lyle) as she reopens an unsolved investigation of the murder of Rosie Duff from 1996. Now, 25 years on, Karen is trying to solve the case and find the missing pieces that have remained hidden for all these years.
Speaking of the storyline, 29-year-old Lauren says: "It is quite a different take on a detective show, with a younger, underestimated woman who didn’t quite expect to have a case like this thrust upon her."
Read more: You can get a personal message from stars of Great British Bake Off
She adds: "Within this story a lot of things happen within the 25-year gap – there’s the night of the crime and the caseitself, but also everything that has gone on in the years that followed. It just makes for a much more delicious, satisfying story,because there’s so much to unpack, and it means you’ve got to keep up. It’s not a boring whodunit and people won’t expect the way it ends, which is the best part."
Starring alongside Lyle is Chris Jenks, the show's writer Emer Kenny, Zach Wyatt and Michael Shaeffer. You can see the cast list in full here.
But with the cast confirmed, you may be wondering: when is the ITV drama on and at what time, what is the plot and how many episodes are there?
Here's everything you need to know...
When does Karen Pirie start?
The first of Karen Pirie's three episodes will begin on Sunday, September 25 on ITV at 8pm. The first episode will be two hours long, finishing at 10pm.
How many episodes of Karen Pirie are there?
Karen Pirie is a three-part mini-series, with each episode lasting for 120 minutes - or two hours . The remaining two episodes will air on the subsequent Sundays - Sunday, October 2 and the Sunday, October 9.
The episodes will be shown at the same time of 8pm each week on ITV. If you cannot wait for next week to come then you can catch all three episodes on ITV hub once the first has premiered.
What is the story of Karen Pirie?
Based on Val McDermid's first Karen Pirie novel, The Distant Echo, the story follows Karen, a young and fearless Scottish investigator - with a quick mouth and tenacious desire for the truth - as she is thrust into the investigation of an unsolved murder case 25 years on after the crime becomes the subject of a popular true crime podcast..
ITV's synopsis reads: "When teenager Rosie Duff (Anna Russell-Martin, Casualty) was found brutally murdered in the Scottish university town of St Andrews in 1996, suspicion fell on the three drunken students who were discovered at the scene of the crime, claiming to have found her body; Sigmund ‘Ziggy’ Malkiewicz (Jhon Lumsden, Pancake) Tom ‘Weird’ Mackie (Jack Hesketh, Besa) and Alex Gilbey (BuomTihngang, Death In Paradise). But with a lack of forensic evidence, no charges were brought and the police investigation floundered.
"Twenty-five years on, someone appears to be willing to risk everything to keep the secrets surrounding the case hidden. Do the three men know more than they previously revealed?"
It certainly sounds like an ITV drama that'll have you sitting on the edge of your seat.
Karen Pirie starts on ITV at 8pm on Sunday, September 25. All episodes will be available to watch on ITV Hub after the first has premiered.
For more showbiz and television stories, get our newsletter here.
Read more:
- Strictly 2022: Where is Oti Mabuse? Reason professional dancer left BBC show
- Where is Aljaž Škorjanec and why isn't he on BBC's Strictly Come Dancing 2022?
- BBC Full House: The thriving valleys bingo hall at the centre of a new TV show and the people who love it there
- Axed Jeremy Kyle confirms he will return to TV with brand new live show
- BBC Strictly same-sex couple receive first standing ovation of the series
