Karen Pirie series 2 has just landed on ITVX, so it’s time for a recap of Karen Pirie series 1 – especially of that very dramatic ending!

The first series of the Scottish crime drama aired to critical acclaim back in 2022. So you’re forgiven if you’ve forgotten what actually happened and who did the murderrrrrrrs.

Karen Pirie is back with series 2 to a series 1 recap is required! [Credit: ITV]

Karen Pirie series 1 recap: who IS she?

Karen Pirie (played by Lauren Lyle), is a detective sergeant based in St Andrews, on the west coast of Scotland.

She’s small, she’s smart and she rocks a bumbag.

When we first meet her, she’s dealing with pretty mundane cases of burglary, with her love interest DS Phil Parhatka (Zach Wyatt). She’s clearly competent and good at her job, but she doesn’t seem particularly ambitious. Unlike Phil.

Then, much to her surprise, Serious Crime put Karen in charge of a team re-examining the case of an unresolved murder 25 years ago, when the body of barmaid Rosie Duff is found in a graveyard. It looks like Karen’s career is on an unexpected upswing.

Not only is Phil’s nose put out of joint, as he thought he he was a shoo-in for the role, but Karen soon learns that her promotion may have more to do with “optics” than her ability to do the job. Her bosses specifically want a woman to lead the team, because a popular true crime podcast is claiming that the murder wasn’t originally investigated properly, creating renewed public interest in the case.

The podcast also claims that the police at the time made unfair assumptions about the kind of woman Rosie was – she was a fun-loving barmaid who bunked off her job to meet up with a man at a late-night party. And was characterised as “asking for it”. So the investigation wasn’t handled with the rigour it deserved.

Karen’s new role

So Karen is given her new role as a way of sending out the right signals to the media. But that’s also why some of the male coppers give Karen the nickname “Ticker” – because she’s an exercise in box-ticking.

And, spoiler warning, it ultimately turns out one of her bosses doesn’t actually want the case solved, and assumes Karen doesn’t have the policing chops to pull it off.

Bad move. Because Karen is determined to prove she’s exactly the right woman for the job. If her sarcastic wit doesn’t get her fired first.

It looked like Alex might’ve been the murderer after all… (Credit: ITV)

What makes Karen Pirie different to other crime dramas?

Karen Pirie was like a breath of fresh air when the crime drama premiered, and became an instant hit.

This is a crime show with a unique feel and a totally endearing lead character. It’s witty, boasts a bunch of strong, sometimes quirky support characters, but isn’t a comedy drama like Death In Paradise or its various spin-offs. In fact, the crime elements are as hardboiled as you’d expect from a drama based on a book series written by the queen of tartan noir, Val McDermid.

The drama also shows a woman trying to make her way in a male-dominated career, but with considerably more nuance and subtlety (and believable reactions from her male colleagues) than some other desperate-to-be-progressive shows.

Karen heads up a new team in St Andrews which will eventually be called the Historic Crimes Squad (think Dept. Q with the testosterone and male angst toned down).

Read more: 10 of the best hidden gem dramas to stream this summer

The drama has a dual-timeline structure (which will continue to be part of the show’s shtick if there are further series).

We don’t just see short flashbacks to the crime. The viewers watch the events in the past and the present unfold in parallel. In the first series the original murder took place on June 26, 1996 (so the whole series opens with archive footage of Gareth Southgate missing his penalty in the Euro 96 semifinal against Germany – much to a pub full of Scots’ delight).

The other important aspects of the show’s DNA is social media and podcasting, and the effect they have on modern policing.

Karen Pirie series 1 recap: the plot

The plot of Karen Pirie series one involved the discovery of a woman’s body in a graveyard in 1996. She’s identified as barmaid Rosie Duff, and the three young men, Alex, Weird and Ziggy, who claim to have discovered her body become immediate suspects – especially as they are all clearly concealing something.

But they are never convicted, and after the death of the cop leading the investigation, the police appear to lose interest in the case.

But 25 years later, Bel Richmond’s true crime podcast accuses the police of a cover-up, creating renewed public interest in the murder that forces the police to reopen the case. Karen’s put in charge because her bosses think it’s good optics in a case where they are being accused of sexism.

Karen immediately re-interviews the now grown-up trio of suspects, and unravels a major conspiracy that reveals some truths one of her bosses would rather weren’t unearthed.

Where is Karen Pirie filmed?

The entire first series was shot on location in Scotland.

The very first day of shooting took place on the grounds of St Andrews Cathedral, and the town of St Andrews provided many more filming locations.

According to Zach Wyatt, who plays DS Phil Parhatka, filming in St Andrews’ “old history, castles and wide coastline really helped give the show its slightly darker, modern detective flavour”.

As well as the cathedral, scenes were shot in St Andrews’ harbour, university and market place, as well as the Pends, a pair of fourteenth-century arches in the walled enclosure surrounding St Andrews Cathedral. For series one, filming took place during lockdown, which gave the scenes an eerie, empty feel.

Shooting also took place at Deas Wharf in Kirkcaldy and Loch Lomond.

Who are the creators of Karen Pirie?

The series is based on the Inspector Karen Pirie series by Val McDermid, whose books have also inspired the acclaimed TV drama Wire In The Blood (2002-2008). Additionally, McDermid was one of the creators of Traces (2019-2022), an Alibi drama (also shown on BBC One) about three women working at the fictional Scottish Institute of Forensic Science and Anatomy (SIFA).

Currently, there are seven published books in the Inspector Karen Pirie series. The first series of the TV series was based on the first book of the series, The Distant Echo. The second series will be based on the second book, A Darker Domain.

The series has been created for television by former EastEnders and Father Brown actress Emer Kenny, who also scripts all episodes. She’s previously written episodes of EastEnders, Doctors, Holby City, Red Rock, Harlots and Save Me among others.

Karen Pirie series 1 recap: ending explained

The third and final episode focuses on Alex Gilby, the last in the group to be investigated. We finally learn exactly what happened to Rosie and, most importantly, who really killed her.

New forensic evidence on Rosie’s previously lost cardigan reveals that Alex’s sperm is on it. This immediately makes him look like the guilty party, and Karen arrests him.

However, during his questioning, Alex finally opens up. He reveals that he and Rosie were in a secret relationship, and only Weird and Ziggy knew about it.

That’s why Ziggy was yelling at her – he was protective of Alex, who was upset about Rosie trying to hide their relationship. Alex says that he and Rosie had sex in Weird’s car. They then got into an argument about why their relationship had to be a secret.

He asked Rosie if she didn’t want anyone to know about them because he was black. Rosie didn’t have a good answer and stormed off.

Alex tells Karen this was the last time he saw her, as he headed to town.

Fans of Karen Pirie were rewarded with a lot answers in the final episode (Credit: ITV)

Karen Pirie series 1 recap: Lies, lies and more lies explained

Alex admitted that Ziggy and Weird lied about their alibis and Rosie’s presence at the party in a bid to protect Alex.

They both saw how Alex was treated by the police because he was black. The boys were worried that the whole case would get pinned on Alex and that he would be treated worse because of his race.

While Karen is sympathetic, she says she has to keep Alex under arrest, as he is the last known person to have seen Rosie alive.

Of course, he has also admitted to having an argument with her, just before she was killed.

Alex tells Karen that they thought if they’d told the truth, he still would’ve been charged for her murder, even though he didn’t do it.

Ziggy was killed earlier in the series (Credit: ITV)[/caption]

Karen Pirie series 1 recap: Who killed Ziggy?

Once fans of Bel’s podcast find out the identities of Ziggy, Weird and Alex, any one of the fans could’ve tried to take justice into their own hands and killed Ziggy.

But episode 3 reveals the truth.

Grace Galloway, Rosie’s daughter, kills Ziggy. She later confronts Alex and shoots him, before abducting his newborn baby.

Karen goes to Grace’s farm to tell her she knows who killed her mother. She finds Grace (Bobby Rainsbury) armed with a gun. Grace is arrested for the murder of Ziggy. And the attempted murder of Weird and Alex. And the kidnapping of his daughter. Grace says she got so angry at the boys because she saw their successful lives. She was heartbroken her birth mother could never experience that.

So, she killed them for revenge.

Karen Pirie figured it all out in the series ending… (Credit: ITV)

So who killed Rosie?

All the clues finally start to come together when Karen has paint from Rosie’s cardigan analysed.

It’s acrylic paint – the type found on boats and caravans. Of course, viewers had seen one character in his caravan in several flashbacks…

CS James Lawson, known back then as DS Jimmy Lawson.

Karen eventually puts all the clues together. The BMW that Rosie got into belonged to Lawson’s mother and he was in the bar that night.

But she needs to visit Lawson’s caravan for proof.

Karen and Murray go to the caravan and she recognises the paint from Rosie’s cardigan. It was chipped from the door because of how Lawson carried Rosie’s body.

After Karen talks down Grace, she arrests CS Lawson in a dramatic scene.

She tells him that she knew that Lawson offered Rosie a lift, that Lawson was the father of Grace. And that he murdered her out of rage because she rejected him. He dumped her dead body in the graveyard to mirror another unsolved murder. And he hid the evidence box containing Rosie’s clothing.

Karen asks if he also killed MacLennan, but he insists that was an accident.

He admits he only put Karen on the case because he thought she’d never be able to solve it.

Well, he made a mistake, that’s for sure! Phil, Murray and Lees all try to hold Karen back, but she never gives up. She is finally able to give Rosie and the Duff family justice.

Did Alex and Weird survive?

While it looked like Alex would not survive his gunshot wound, he does.

Weird also survives his overdose. A short clip shows them at Ziggy’s funeral, before sharing a tearful embrace.

As DI Simon Lees says, the ending is “bittersweet”. At least the boys get the truth and Rosie finally gets justice.

The episode ends with Karen celebrating solving the case, and her romance with DS Phil Parhatka is in full swing.

All episodes of Karen Pirie series 2 are available on ITVX.  The series begins on ITV on Sunday, July 20 at 8pm.