“A photogenic young heiress who goes missing with her son is like catnip to the tabloids”: Lauren Lyle and Emer Kenny on Karen Pirie season two

Newly promoted and thrust back into the spotlight, Detective Inspector Karen Pirie (Lauren Lyle) returns to screens to reopen the 1984 kidnapping case of oil heiress Catriona Grant and her young son as startling new evidence surfaces 40 years on. But beyond the twists of a high-profile cold case, the second season of Karen Pirie marks a bold step forward in tone, ambition and character – as lead actress Lauren Lyle and writer and executive producer Emer Kenny revealed to The Upcoming ahead of its release.

“It definitely feels like there’s a second album pressure,” Lyle revealed. “But I weirdly felt quite relaxed about it.” Having now firmly settled into the role, she felt a distinct shift this time around: “I enjoyed being her a lot more than I did the first time, when I was so scared if a lot of it was going to work.”

That confidence brings new energy to the show’s balance of grit and wit – something Lyle leans into with her nuanced performance. As Kenny explained, this tonal shift was intentional. “Season one felt so serious – it was dear to my heart to speak up for the victims of those crimes,” she said. “Series two gave us licence to be a little bit more irreverent.” While the case at the heart of the series – an elaborate, headline-grabbing abduction – is rooted in a classic detective tradition, it also echoes contemporary media obsessions. “A photogenic young heiress who goes missing with her son is like catnip to the tabloids,” Kenny noted.

Yet, beneath the mystery lies a deeper exploration of class and politics. “A lot of the communities were mining communities, and they were really, really devastated by the mining strikers of poverty,” said Kenny. “And so I really researched what that did to communities and how they felt about Margaret Thatcher, about how they felt about wealth, class, privilege and industry.” These details root the drama firmly in its historical context, bringing a richer, more grounded perspective to the story.

What resonates most, however, is how the ITV series has struck a chord beyond its setting. “It’s not seen as just a little Scottish story,” Lyle said. “It’s a team of people that are all collaborating together, and that’s what makes it feel like a big, sexy show.” Kenny agreed: “The stories that we’re telling are universal – we worked really hard to make it feel filmic, and it had a really nice response around the world.”

Christina Yang

Karen Pirie season two is released on ITVX on 20^th July 2025.

Watch the trailer for Karen Pirie season two here: