Second Season of Crime Drama 'Manhunt' Arrives on Acorn TV in October

Martin Clunes in "Manhunt" Season 2 (Photo: Acorn TV)

Martin Clunes drama Manhunt is returning for a second season, set to debut on streaming service Acorn TV this October.

The first season of the show aired back in 2019 and was a surprising hit for British network ITV, becoming the highest-rated new drama on any U.K. channel that year. Clunes portrays former London Metropolitan Police detective, DCI Colin Sutton, on whose real-life diaries this series is based. 

The first season followed the story of the hunt for serial killer Levi Bellfield, and how the murder of Amelie Delagrange on Twickenham Green in 2004 was eventually linked to the killing of Marsha McDonnell in 2003 and the abduction and murder of Milly Dowler as she traveled home from school in 2002. 

Season 2 will be subtitled The Night Stalker and it will follow the real-life story of the police pursuit of a notorious serial rapist, whose 17-year reign of terror left thousands of elderly people in southeast London living in fear between 1992 and 2009. (Yes, this very much sounds like the Golden State Killer case in America, but I guess horrible and dangerous men can all too easily exist on both sides of the pond.)

As the suspect continued to evade capture, Sutton was asked to review the case. Working with Detective Superintendent Simon Morgan and the dedicated “Operation Minstead” team, Sutton proposed a strategy he believed could catch one of Britain’s most prolific rapists, focusing a vast surveillance operation around a key area of southeast London. Scores of additional officers were deployed to invisibly saturate the target area on a nightly basis. The clock was ticking, as the Night Stalker was becoming ever more brazen and prolific. The new season of Manhunt will explore how Sutton came in and helped solve it in a matter of weeks, taking an incredibly dangerous criminal off the streets.

Watch the trailer for Season 2 below.

Season 2 will officially premiere on Monday, October 18 and a new episode will drop weekly through November 8.

Are you looking forward to seeing Clunes reprise this role? Let's discuss in the comments.


Lacy Baugher

Lacy's love of British TV is embarrassingly extensive, but primarily centers around evangelizing all things Doctor Who, and watching as many period dramas as possible.

Digital media type by day, she also has a fairly useless degree in British medieval literature, and dearly loves to talk about dream poetry, liminality, and the medieval religious vision. (Sadly, that opportunity presents itself very infrequently.) York apologist, Ninth Doctor enthusiast, and unabashed Ravenclaw. Say hi on Threads or Blue Sky at @LacyMB. 

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