The 'Karen Pirie' Season 2 Premiere Introduces “A Darker Domain”

Scottish detective series Karen Pirie returns with the three-part “A Darker Domain,” adapted from Val McDermid’s novel of the same name, starring Lauren Lyle (Outlander) as the titular detective. Since we last saw Karen, she has been promoted to Inspector; her protege, DC Mint Murray (Chris Jenks), remains a lovable geek, and her relationship with DS Phil Parhatka (Zach Wyatt) remains a closely guarded secret. She maintains a cordial, if suspicious, relationship with her boss, DCS Lees (Steve John Shepherd). The new season opens as Karen is being interviewed by journalist Bel Richmond (Rakhee Thakrar) for his podcast, telling him she doesn’t like the term “cold case,” preferring the adjective “historic.”

Karen: To do what we do you can’t see time as a barrier. You have to see it as an opportunity. As the years pass, people age, the world changes, evidence comes to light.

Don’t all victims deserve justice? But when Karen finds herself agreeing with Bel that the media can sway decisions on when to reopen a case, she ends the interview. It’s a little too true to her experience.

A severe storm on the eastern coast of Scotland provides the impetus for a famous cold – or historic – case from 1984 to be reopened, the kidnapping and disappearance of oil heiress Catriona Grant (Julia Brown) and her two-year-old son Grant. Catriona and Grant met her friend Bonnie (Kat Ronney) at a fish and chip shop in Fife, after which Catriona and the baby were kidnapped at gunpoint, forced into her own car, and never seen again. Now, forty years later, the storm has revealed the body of a man, his remains preserved in peat moss, who had the key to Catriona’s car in his pocket. 

Modern technology and the victim’s police records identify him as gang member and drug dealer Kevin Campbell, with a connection to the Lennox drug family in Glasgow. He was killed execution style, with one shot to the head.

The action jumps between the original case investigation, led by DI Anderson (Thoren Ferguson) and assisted by WDC Laurel Blair (Helen Katamba), and the current one, led by DI Pirie. Catriona’s family received ransom demands, but the police followed the national policy of not complying. The final ransom communication warned the Grants not to contact the press, stating that if they did, the price would be raised. For £1m delivered to a specific location, the baby would be returned. After the money was counted, Catriona was to be released. 

But nothing more was heard from them, and the police, already dealing with riots and demonstrations, turned their attention to left-wing activists, believing that since Catriona was at art school, she may have had contact with extremist groups. They interviewed activist Toby Inglis (Adam Young), who was at the same art school as Catriona. In addition to doing animal impersonations, Toby tells them that he hated Sir Broderick Grant. But he’s a vociferous dead end as far as the investigation goes, even when threatened with prosecution.

The case reopened, Karen invites Phil to join her team over a glass or two of wine, despite the possibility that their relationship may be discovered. If it isn’t, it’s time they came clean, and they plan to do so after the case is over. With her pick of detectives from Serious Crime, Karen moves into what Lees describes as the penthouse of the police station, with its own coffee maker. He also drops the hint that she should recruit another woman for the team, and in fact, he has someone specifically in mind, and a hidden agenda of his own.

Karen has been summoned to interview oil baron Sir Broderick Grant (James Cosmo), Catriona’s father. DCS Lees instructs her to “bend the knee,” and she agrees to bow. Sir Broderick lives in a castle, but leads Pirie to the new wing —a modern, green building that represents an early venture into renewable energy. He has had Karen investigated and shares with her that she was described as “blunt to a fault.” 

She asks him if he thinks there’s a possibility his daughter and grandson are still alive, but he doesn’t believe so, although his ex-wife, Catriona’s mother, Mary, does. Sir Broderick was humbled by the whole experience, used to taking charge but not being allowed to do so by the police. He claims the police made promises they did not fulfill. It’s an odd family altogether. Catriona had an affair with one of her father’s employees, Fergus Sinclair (John Michie), who had never even seen his son. He’s married to a woman who knows nothing about Catriona or her baby. 

So far, it’s all been about Catriona’s family, but Phil looks into Kevin Campbell’s family. His elder brother, Ryan Campbell, is on record for various offenses related to drugs and weapons and spent time in prison, but the chronology ends in 2021. He’s not dead or imprisoned, and the sudden disappearance suggests he’d turned informant and is in a Witness Protection Program. Phil and Karen assure DCS Lees that they will not attempt to contact him (but agree between themselves that if they do, Lees will never know about it).

Mint has been busy investigating the few isolated households near the quarry and generally receiving hearsay or memories of neighbors’ dogs. (Poor Mint, ambitious but loyally doing the grunt work.) There’s one farmhouse that has been abandoned, and he asks Pirie to join him there, sensing he may be onto something significant. (Thought he may be nervous about the remote location and fading light.) 

As they explore the house, the scene jumps between the two timelines. Back in 1984, Kevin Campbell, angry, nervous, and armed, brings Catriona and Patrick to the house. She demands diapers, wipes, and baby food. Ransom photographs were taken in the house, where the original paint and wallpaper are still in existence. The two decide the house needs a forensic search, despite the many years that have passed.

DCS Lees summons DS Isla Stark (Saskia Ashdown), who’s been miserable in e-crime, and assigns her to the case to spy on Karen for him. Isla knows nothing about “historic cases,” questioning whether old and unreliable records from the previous investigation are any better or worse than old and unreliable witnesses, but quickly gets on board with her new job. The two interview Catriona’s mother, Lady Mary (Frances Tomelty), who confesses that she and Sir Broderick still speak to each other every night, bonded by their shared trauma. She also has all her daughter’s diaries, artwork, and records of (alleged) sightings, although she knows none of them may be genuine. 

Karen asks if they can borrow the materials. “No one could put it together with as much love and dedication as you have. I just want to make sure none of it goes to waste.” Karen and Isla are fascinated by Catriona’s artwork, particularly her studies of the human arm. Isla suspects the arms are the same pair every time.

Having watched a 1984 interview with Bonnie, Karen decides to speak to her again. Bonnie (now played by Seylan Baxter), traumatized by seeing her friend’s kidnapping, started taking drugs soon after the event. She’s in recovery again now and has remained close to Catriona’s family, who have supported her over the years. She doesn’t recognize the drawings of the tattooed arms; she says Catriona was only casually dating. But there was one episode, when Bonnie tried to take Catriona’s mind off Fergus by taking her clubbing. Catriona went outside and flirted with a bouncer, and Bonnie came out of the club as she drove away with him. 

Bonnie visited Catriona the next day, wanting to swap stories, and while she can’t remember the name of the man Catriona took home, she isn’t sure if Catriona saw him again. Flashing back to 1984, Catriona sees a wedding ring, and we see the tattoo. He claims the marriage is over; she shows him a photograph of herself and Adam. He wants to see her again, and it looks like he’s serious.

Mint has found the owner of the farmhouse, Angela Boyce (Beth Marshall), who inherited it from her brother Andy (Conor Berry). They show her a photo of Kevin Campbell, whom she knew as a local boy gone bad. Andy, she says, was a striking miner and a gambling addict, broke, and in debt. Kevin helped Andy by arranging a loan from his brother, Ryan. Andy eventually threw himself from a cliff into the sea, but his body was never recovered. 

Phil is becoming uneasy about trying to find Ryan Campbell, but thus far has hit dead ends. Karen suggests they leak Kevin’s name to the press, which creates friction with Phil, since this is precisely what Lees wants to avoid. This leads again to the issue of their undeclared relationship, which is also against the rules, and Phil’s conviction that they should obey orders, versus Karen’s conviction that they have to do what is necessary to solve the case. In the end, she calls Bel, the journalist, and leaks that Kevin Campbell’s remains have been found.

The following day, the press are besieging the police station as Karen arrives, and Lees is most displeased about the leak. As Karen points out, they’ve been interviewing a lot of witnesses, and word will get out, possibly even from the Grant family themselves. Meanwhile, Isla has come up with a theory that Catriona designed the logo used by the Miners’ Strike, and she and Mint are now watching footage from a strike benefit event, hoping to spot Catriona and/or Andy.

Isla is summoned to Lees’s office to report on the case and manages to sidestep “reporting on Karen” as much as she steers the conversation toward how Lees wants her to report on Karen. Believing he has won the round, Lees suggests that the e-crime position is always open. Isla is not at all happy. However, while she’s out, Karen and Mint have discovered Isla was right: Catriona and her boyfriend are on the video canoodling in a corner while Kevin Campbell lurks nearby with Andy, who hits on the idea that if they want cash, they should consider fleecing the Grants. Catriona owes them – it’s the oil industry destroying the mines.

Phil has received a call from Ryan to arrange a meeting and invites Karen to join them. As they drive, he and Karen resume their usual friendly banter. “Being right always puts you in a better mood,” he tells her. When Ryan (Stewart Porter) meets with them, he reminds them of the enormous risk he’s taking. He didn’t know Kevin was dead, but he did know his brother wanted to get out of his association with the Lennoxes. He also hoped that Kevin got his share of the ransom money, unaware that no money had ever been exchanged. 

Who else was involved? – not Andy Kerr, who Ryan looked out for because he was Kevin’s friend, but of whom he had a very low opinion. Ryan won’t or can’t tell them who killed Kevin, but he wants his brother to have a proper burial, a place that he can safely visit. He adds that he always felt for Catriona and her son. As the next scene flashes back to the derelict farmhouse, where Catriona and her baby are being held, Ryan’s account continues. She was set up by her boyfriend, whose name we now know is Mick Prentice (Mark Rowley).

Karen and Phil return to her apartment to discover that it’s been broken into and trashed. Her work laptop and the hard drive containing the case notes, neither of which she was supposed to take home, have been stolen. That's not going to go over well at the office...

Karen Pirie Season 2 continues with new episodes on Thursdays on BritBox through October 16, 2025. Season 1 is streaming on BritBox.