BritBox Sets 'Karen Pirie' for an October Debut

Here at PBS, we've been touting Masterpiece's all-female detective lineup for fall, with Kate Phillips returning as Miss Scarlet, Nicola Walker from Unforgotten in Annika, where she played the titular detective, and Lesley Manville in the new series, Magpie Murders. But they aren't the only women detective on the case in October. BritBox also has a new series, the Scottish detective Karen Pirie, based on the best-selling novels by Val McDermid and adapted by Father Brown's Emer Kenny, who also co-stars in the series.

Starring Lauren Lyle (Outlander) as the series' titular sleuth and Kenny as Karen's BFF, River Wilde, the series is primarily set in and around the Scottish university town of St. Andrews. The titular Pirie is part of Police Scotland's Historic Cases Unit; the first season's adventure concerns a 25-year-old cold case after it becomes the season-long subject of a popular True Crime podcast. As the trailer shows, the brass decides that this time, having a woman in charge of the case could make all the difference.

Karen Pirie is the third series adapted from McDermid's works, the first in a while. The first two, Wire in The Blood and A Place of Execution, were done in 2002 and 2008, respectively. Like those adaptations, the series runs three feature-length episodes. Though it has not been renewed yet, McDermid has plenty of Pirie books in her bibliography that could quickly provide multiple follow-up seasons. The series is being produced by World Productions, which is the same outfit behind the Jed Mercutio hits Line Of Duty and Bodyguard.