The Gone season 2 stars Richard Flood and Acushla-Tara Kupe tease thrilling new series

A new disappearance reignites hidden tensions in the fictional rural New Zealand town of Mount Affinity as gritty crime drama The Gone returns for a second outing (all The Gone season 2 episodes are available on BBC iPlayer now, along with season 1).

After cracking the harrowing case of two missing young Irish tourists in the first series, Dublin detective Theo Richter (Grey’s Anatomy actor Richard Flood) is preparing to return home when he discovers his love interest, Irish journalist Aileen Ryan (Smother’s Carolyn Bracken), has vanished under eerily similar circumstances.

Teaming up again with Maori detective Diana Huia (Under the Vines star Acushla-Tara Kupe), Theo learns Aileen was chasing a lead and was lured to a remote cabin housing a collection of macabre items linked with a serial killer known as "the Goatman".

As the cops enter a dangerous gam of cat and mouse, can they unravel a web of long-buried secrets in time?

Here, Richard and Acushla-Tara share their case notes…

Where does the new six-part run pick up the action?

RICHARD "It starts exactly where we finished at the end of the first season. Theo is in the airport and is calling Aileen but he’s not getting any response, so he decides to head back to the police station to look for help."

ACUSHLA-TARA "Diana’s getting ready to leave [her home town of] Mount Affinity again, to go back to the city and back to her life. But she’s at a press conference about everything they discovered in Season 1 when Theo turns up and asks if she has seen Aileen…"

Was it a challenge to reprise your roles with the break in filming?

ACUSHLA-TARA "We started filming this season with detective scenes, which is inherently a little harder because it’s very wordy and evidence-based. It took me a couple of days to ease back into Diana, but then I found her and thought, ‘There she is, we’re good!’"

RICHARD "I like that you fly back into the storyline and understand exactly where your character is. It was fairly seamless, although there were a couple of days where I was like, ‘Where are we again?’"

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How do Theo and Diana cope with concerns from the locals about the rumoured return of the Goatman?

ACUSHLA-TARA "Diana finds it quite confusing because it’s totally new territory for her."

RICHARD "Due to Theo’s personal relationship with Aileen, there’s a different kind of urgency and panic. His drive is based on emotion, rather than being a really professional detective. But certain things become clearer to him about what he wants and who he is."

Would you say Theo is more of a team player this time?

RICHARD "Yes, a big difference this series is that Theo is relying on the team that has been built to help him, rather than him coming into the team to help it. Without Diana, Sergeant Harris [Scott Wills], Detective Sergeant Gwenda [Miriama Te Rangimarie Smith] and their knowledge of all the people around the town, Theo would be lost."

ACUSHLA-TARA "At times, she has to take the lead as she can be more objective than Theo."

Finally, what are your standout memories from filming Series 2?

ACUSHLA-TARA "Doing armoury training and learning how to use weapons properly was cool!"

RICHARD "The locations are incredible. Filming in Te Aroha [the town that doubles as Mount Affinity] is always a highlight."