Lauren Lyle plays Mia, a Glasgow solicitor fresh out of rehab who lands in rural New Zealand for the wedding she hopes will restore family ties and instead finds her estranged sister murdered in the bathtub of a colonial manor. With the ceremony cancelled and the police circling, Mia stays on, sharing the grief-soaked house with the dead woman’s fiancé, Jay Ryan’s Ewan, a vineyard owner whose silences feel rehearsed. Between the vineyard’s rust-red soil and the harbour town’s single pub, every neighbour has a ledger of favours and grudges; every glance asks whether Mia is mourner or suspect.
Writers Nora Chassler and David Murdoch keep the six-hour canvas tight: flashbacks to the siblings’ Scottish childhood leak out like contraband, while present-day scenes hinge on small physical acts, a lost earring, a dented car panel, a voicemail left unplayed. Directors Douglas Mackinnon and Robyn Grace shoot the ridge itself, a volcanic spine overlooking the settlement, like a third character, its shadows lengthening across living-room walls to mark time running out. The score by Dream Chambers and Arli Liberman withholds crescendo, letting cicadas and wind talk first.
BBC Scotland and Sky NZ co-funded the drama, with Boat Rocker handling sales, and the trans-Pacific partnership shows in the credits: interiors at Seamer House, Coatesville, once the playground for 2009’s Aliens in the Attic, exteriors around Falkirk to fake Glasgow streets. Critics praised the show’s sour humour; Lucy Mangan noted the place “feels real and unnaturally potent”, while Ben Dowell hailed writing “sublime” enough to balance the body count. A second series is already green-lit, promising more weather-beaten secrets on that ridge.
Production Details
BBC Scotland / 1 Season / 6 Episodes / 2025 - Present
Created by: Nora Chassler, David Murdoch
Showrunner(s): Erik Pack, Jon Rutherford, Ivan Schneeberg
Writer(s): Nora Chassler Kate McDermott Jess Sayer Douglas Mackinnon David Murdoch Alan Campbell
Producer(s): Angela Murray Steven Zanoski
Main Cast
Lauren Lyle as Mia
Jay Ryan as Ewan
Caleb Nazzer as Josh
Beth Alexander as Natalie
Florence Hartigan as Lesley Grimes
Kauri Williams as Teddy Wilson
Connor Amor-Bendall as Cassy Beaton
Mabel Strachan as Young Mia
Chloe Parker as Sadie Grimes
Tony Zhou as Hire Car Guy
