Joanne Froggatt’s newly single teacher accepts a dinner invitation from Ioan Gruffudd’s widowed consultant; by sunrise she believes she has been drugged and raped, he insists the sex was consensual, and the Kent marshes become a crime scene once evidence surfaces. The first six-episode run, broadcast on ITV from September 2017, tracks Laura’s DIY investigation after the police lose interest, Andrew’s tightening grip on respectability and the collateral damage among Laura’s sister (Zoë Tapper), her copper ex (Warren Brown) and the detectives (Shelley Conn, Danny Webb) who eventually reopen the case. The series ends with Andrew’s throat cut beside a reedy creek, his final selfie video ensuring no one is exonerated.
A second run, arriving in March 2020, turns the show into a whodunnit: Katherine Kelly’s Met officer arrives to discover which of Andrew’s many enemies, including a vengeful nurse, a war-scarred boatyard owner and the surgeon’s own teenage son, wielded the scalpel. Flashbacks fill the gap between series, revealing fresh victims and a blackmail ledger that implicates half the town. The Williams brothers, creators of The Missing, keep the viewpoint split, so every testimony contradicts the last and the answer stays murky until the final 45-minute episode.
Filmed along the Kent coast, the salt-grey skies and tidal flats provide a damp chill that seeps into every interrogation room and domestic kitchen; the score, by Heaven 17’s Glenn Gregory and Berenice Scott, pulses like tinnitus after a late-night call. ITV billed it as event television; viewers treated it as a national referendum on believability, flooding switchboards with complaints about the verdict.
Production Details
ITV1 / 2 Seasons / 12 Episodes / 2017
Created by: Jack Williams, Harry Williams
Showrunner(s): James Strong, Jack Williams, Harry Williams
Writer(s): Jack Williams, Harry Williams
Producer(s): Eliza Mellor
Cinematography: Matt Gray, Søren Bay
Main Cast
Joanne Froggatt as Laura Nielson
Ioan Gruffudd as Andrew Earlham
Zoë Tapper as Katy Sutcliffe
Shelley Conn as DI Vanessa Harmon
Danny Webb as DS Rory Maxwell
Richie Campbell as Liam Sutcliffe
Jamie Flatters as Luke Earlham
Warren Brown as Tom Bailey
Rita McDonald Damper as Deputy Head
Katherine Kelly as DI Karen Renton
Amy Nuttall as Winnie Peterson
Sam Spruell as Oliver Graham
