Masterpiece & Alibi Reteam for 'Annika' Season 2

Nicola Walker's exit as DI Cassie Stuart from the beloved Unforgotten franchise shocked Masterpiece viewers when it aired in the summer of 2021. But in the U.K., where the series had already been broadcast much earlier in the year, audiences were already checking out Walker's next, slightly less hardboiled detective character from her new series Annika. Based on BBC Radio 4's Annika Stranded, Walker reprises her role as DI Annika Strandhed, a Norwegian supercop, now relocated from Stockholm to Glasgow. She'll keep reprising it, too; PBS and U.K. network Alibi are already re-upping with BBC co-producers UKTV and Black Camel Pictures for a second season.

Though the series does not debut on-air in the U.S. until mid-October as part of an all-female mystery lineup, PBS members have been able to stream Annika on PBS Passport since April 2022. PBS does not release streaming viewership numbers (though Nielsen is continuing to add streaming services to its impartial third-party reporting), but Annika was a massive hit in the U.K. on Alibi when it debuted in August 2021, breaking records for the mystery-focused network. Masterpiece jumping on board with Alibi and All3Media International for a new season without waiting for linear ratings suggests it's doing well on streaming over here as well.

Season 2 will continue the same format as Annika's first outing, with six one-hour episodes, each of which is a stand-alone mystery of the week for the team at Scotland's Marine Homicide Unit. Walker will continue to star as the titular speedboat driving detective. Her cheerful demeanor, literary background, and dry wit make her a far less dour investigator than Masterpiece viewers are used to seeing from her. The new season will continue to carry over the radio series' fourth-wall-breaking format, with Annika cheerfully snarking on the proceedings even as she and her team work hard to solve their cases.