It might be a rainy day in Glasgow, but Karen Pirie season 2 star Lauren Lyle is not letting that dampen her spirits.
Following Karen Pirie’s critically acclaimed ITV debut in 2022, the crime drama returns for its long-awaited second series, this Sunday, and sees Lauren's plucky Scottish cop promoted to Detective Inspector, a role that comes with more power and swanky new offices right in the heart of the busy city centre — and What To Watch has been invited to take a look around.
"It’s a big step up for Karen — she’s in the 'penthouse' of the police station and in charge of everyone but she doesn’t really know how to act, so just runs with it," Lauren, 31, tells us during a break in filming this all-new investigation, adapted by actor and writer Emer Kenny from Val McDermid’s best-selling novel, "A Darker Domain", in which Karen’s assigned an infamous unsolved case from 1984 — the kidnapping of Catriona Grant, heiress to a vast oil fortune, and her two-year-old son Adam in Fife.
Fast forward 40 years, and the first new piece of evidence is discovered - the body of a dead man with indisputable links to the kidnap.
As Karen and her team — DC Jason "Mint" Murray (Chris Jenks), DS Phil Parhatka (Zach Wyatt), and new DC Isla Stark (Six Four’s Saskia Ashdown) — delve deeper into what happened in 1984, Karen faces tough scrutiny; from Catriona’s father Sir Broderick "Brodie" Grant (Braveheart’s James Cosmo), from the media and from her boss DCS Lees (Steve John Shepherd), whose office we’re sitting in — surrounded by family photos, colour-coded books and sentimental keepsakes — to give Lauren an interrogation…
How much have you enjoyed reprising the role of Karen Pirie? And how is Karen settling into her promotion as Detective Inspector?
"It was really satisfying to slip straight back into the sarcastic, rude yet funny and likable person Karen is. As DI, Karen’s got more power but knows she’s still so young to be doing a job like this. That said, because she has a bit more armour around her, she’s even less afraid than before to break the rules - of career-ending proportions! - to get results. I compare Karen’s imposter syndrome to how I felt personally doing series one and thinking, ‘Can I actually do this job?’ But I did it, she did it and now the pressure is on us both to do it again."
What impact does Karen’s relationship with colleague DS Phil Parhatka have on the case?
"Karen and Phil are a couple of years down the line now but their relationship is still a secret at work; well, no one knows except Mint, which is funny, because he's normally bad at keeping secrets. Phil really wants their relationship to be exposed but Karen’s still quite nervous; she’s never really been able to be part of the “boys’ club” that exists in the force. It’s something I can relate to - I'm the youngest of my family and the only girl among my brothers so, like Karen, I've always had to prove myself and fight hard to be heard. These cases mean so much to Karen, so for her to jeopardise that for love, feels like too much of a risk. But it means she may end up hurting Phil in the process."
What more can you tell us about the investigation for this series?
"It’s probably the biggest case of missing persons ever in Scottish history; the 1984 kidnap of the heiress of an oil tycoon, played by the wonderful James Cosmo, and her young son. Karen doesn't love the idea of having to rehash a case that's already had loads of money and time put into it but, when a body’s found in connection with this historic kidnap, it all kicks off again. As well as the present day case, there are detailed flashbacks of events in 1984, giving a real insight into the lives of those involved in the kidnap and the police incompetence that surrounded the original investigation."
Much of the action takes place in Glasgow and in and around Fife. Do you enjoy returning to your native Scotland to shoot the series?
"I live in London now but originally I'm from Glasgow and I've got family and friends towards Fife, so I’ve spent a lot of time there. Scotland has had a mysterious, spooky history since the dawn of time and there's a place that we filmed in the hills and valleys on the outskirts of the Scottish Highlands that served as one of the crime scenes. It was amazing to be there - but it did get quite creepy!"
This second series has an international flavour, too, as Karen and her team follow one line of enquiry all the way to the island of Malta…
"That’s right. In Val McDermid’s books it’s meant to be Tuscany, but the producers decided it was going to be Malta - and that our Malta would be actual Malta, rather than just pretend! This series feels much darker, much bigger and there's just so much more going on; more characters, more people die, way more suspects than you'd think and more explosions - it’s like CSI meets The Wild West!"
What do you think sets Karen Pirie apart from other TV crime dramas?
"The response to series one was overwhelming - I think people saw Karen Pirie as something different and went with it. There are lots of crime shows on TV and so many of them are centred on male detectives who have drink problems, who are upset with their lives and who hate everything. Karen Pirie’s not that. Karen’s so eccentric and weird but, as a viewer, you’re not jarred by that and she’s really relatable. The show’s written by a cool young person in Emer, who actually understands what people want to see on TV in 2025 and, for a drama, it’s genuinely funny, which I think is what really makes it stand out. It's quite delicious!"
Karen Pirie returns on Sunday, July 20 at 8 pm on ITV1. It will also be available as a box set on ITVX.
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