The BBC Officially Confirms 'The Capture' Has Nabbed a Third Season

It was January 2025 when reports that the BBC was reviving The Capture for a third season first surfaced in the U.K. press. The series, which went completely unnoticed in the U.S. when it streamed its first two seasons on Peacock in 2020 and 2022, was not a particularly massive hit in the U.K. However, it was a critical darling, with reviewers blown away by the series' ability to think through the current technological landscape to its logical endpoint. Season 1 took the then-brand-new technology of deep-faking and considered how a government might use it for less than scrupulous means; Season 2 took it a step further with an entire live interview deep-faked in real-time to take down a politician who wasn't falling into line. Now, Season 3 is back to ask where the world goes from here when entire swaths of media are dedicated to lies and falsehoods.

The series will continue to star Holliday Grainger (The Stolen Girl) as Rachel Carey, former DCI of the London Met, who accidentally found a security camera that was broadcasting a kidnapping while actually recording footage that showed none of it happened and a mystery that led her to discover SO15, which runs the UK intelligence service’s clandestine video manipulation program known as "Correction." Season 2 once again featured Carey, having taken up the offer to join the SO15 team, silently watching for her chance to expose the technology to the public and the U.K.'s disturbing use cases.

Season 2 concluded with Carey successfully broadcasting a "corrected" video as part of an expose hosted by BBC Newsnight presenter Khadija Khan (Indira Varma), while those running the SO15 department turned out to be using the technology to emotionally manipulate other team members, a delicious twist than nonetheless felt like a concluding comeuppance to the series. At the time, series creator Ben Chanan could not confirm or deny a third season would be forthcoming, but here it is almost three years later, and the show is back for more.

Here is the Season 3 synopsis:

How do you protect the truth, in a world where lies are daily currency? And with the proliferation of deepfakes, how can we trust what we see? 

It’s been twelve months since Rachel Carey broadcast a live deepfake of a government minister to the nation, exposing the UK intelligence service’s clandestine video manipulation program known as Correction. Amidst an inquiry into the unlawful use of Correction, Carey has become acting head of SO15, determined to regain the public’s trust in surveillance technology through the new Operation Veritas camera system. 

And then it happens: a brutal and exceptionally well-coordinated act of terror aimed right at the heart of the British establishment that leaves behind just one witness. The more Carey investigates, the deeper she is drawn into an unfolding geopolitical crisis that infects the British political establishment, the security services, and the media. The conspiracy reaches deep into the State, but just who is pulling the strings? Caught in an increasingly violent situation and with few allies left to trust, what sacrifices will Carey be willing to make?

Season 3 will bring back Grainger and Varma to reprise their roles. Also returning for the show's third season are co-stars Ben Miles (Douglas is Cancelled), Lia Williams (The Crown), Ron Perlman (Fantastic Beasts), Ginny Holder (Death in Paradise), Nigel Lindsay (Victoria), Tessa Wong (Silent Witness), and Daisy Waterstone (The Durrells). As with Seasons 1 and 2, Season 3 will bring aboard a new cast of guest stars for the latest case, with Killian Scott (Dublin Murders) as the Season 3 co-lead role that was held by Callum Turner in Season 1 and Paapa Essiedu in Season 2. Also joining Season 3: Joe Dempsie (Get Millie Black), Andrew Buchan (Black Doves), Hugh Quarshie (MaryLand) and Amanda Drew (The Gold).

Chanan returns to pen all six episodes of Season 3, with directors Anthony Philipson and Johnny Allan splitting helming duties, and produced by Derek Ritchie. Executive producers for Season 3 include Chanan, David Heyman, Rosie Alison & Sue Gibbs for Heyday Television, Tom Coan for Universal International Studios, and Rebecca Ferguson for the BBC.

Filming for The Capture Season 3 is underway in the U.K., with the series hopefully arriving in late 2025 or early 2026.