Karen Pirie series 2 episode 1 recap: The first instalment features a twisty turn-y plot surrounding the kidnapping of a rich heiress, Catriona Grant and her baby son Adam – and the plot may need some explaining!

The crime took place in East Rotheswell in 1984 and the police never solved it – now it’s in the hands of Karen and her team to crack. What IS going on? Warning, spoilers ahead!

By the end of the episode it seems we know a lot about the abduction – even the name of the actual kidnapper – but huge questions remain. Especially as it’s the discovery of the body of that kidnapper 40 years later that reopens the case. And we don’t even know if the victims of the kidnapping are still alive.

So what do we actually know by the end of the episode?

Read more: Karen Pirie series 2 episode 1 cast and guest stars in full

Karen Pirie series 2, episode 1 recap: Who was kidnapped?

Two people were kidnapped – Catriona Grant and her baby son Adam.

Catriona – or Cat – was daughter of Sir Broderick Grant, a fabulously wealthy North Sea oil magnate.

But Cat, we’re told by her best friend Bonnie when she’s interviewed later in the episode, liked “anywhere that wasn’t stuck up – grimy pubs… she drank like a trucker”.

“Not your average heiress,” agreed Karen.

Adam’s father is Fergus Sinclair, one of Sir Broderick’s employees. He and Cat had a brief fling, but when he learnt she was pregnant and refused to have an abortion he dumped her and wiped his hands of her.

Sir Broderick knew all this but happily carried on employing Fergus, because he was an asset to the company.

How, when and where did the kidnap happen?

On the night of the kidnapping Cat (who had Adam with her) and Bonnie were eating in a chip shop.

Cat made a phone call to someone from the payphone in the chip shop. Bonnie didn’t know who to, but Karen’s team discovered from phone records that it was to a phone box in Buckhaven.  (DS Phil Parhatka wondered how she would know the number of a phone box…)

When Cat, Adam and Bonnie left the chip shop, Bonnie left the other two to head home, but shortly after heard a scream.

She ran back to where Cat had parked her car to see a single armed-and-masked kidnapper bundle Cat and Adam into the car and force her to drive off.

While in the car, Cat pulled the balaclava off the kidnapper. She didn’t recognise him. He said she’ll regret that.

The kidnapper then took her to a remote cottage in the countryside. Cat, with remarkable composure, demanded “nappies, wipes and baby food and we’ll do exactly what we’re told”. Amazingly, the kidnapper agreed to get the items.

What were the kidnapper’s demands?

The kidnappers claimed to be a group called The Anarchist Covenant of Scotland, though the police had no records of such a group ever having existed.

“We do have a working list of groups,” said one of the cops working on the case in 1984. “A few of them coming out of the same squat in Edinburgh. That seems to be the centre of it all. Paper called Class War; a group called Radical Scotland; a band called Scab Queen. Pretty sure there’ll be some crossover with the art school. It’s where Catriona studied before she got pregnant.”

The 1984 police actually interviewed a prime suspect from that squat – Toby Inglis – but he just came across as an anti-establishment nutter (he did a very poor chicken impression at one point for some reason – the cops awarded him four out of ten for it) and didn’t appear to have a connection with the case.

The kidnappers sent a first ransom note to Sir Broderick and his wife Mary. It basically said we have your daughter and grandson – await further instructions.

A second ransom note arrived, this time for Bonnie (because the police had eyes all over Sir Broderick’s castle on the lookout for it being delivered). She passed it on. It demanded a million in used, non-sequential £20 notes in two holdalls, delivered to a location of the kidnappers’ choosing in three days’ time.

Sir Broderick was keen to give in to the kidnappers’ demands, but the police advised against it. He thinks that was a mistake to this day.

A third ransom note never arrived.

Read more: Get the full Karen Pirie series 2 overview

Karen Pirie series 2 episode 1 recap: Who were the kidnappers?

We know the name of the armed man who performed the actual kidnapping – Kevin Campbell.

We know this because it was his body that was found 40 years later, so well preserved in a peat bog that the present day police could identify him from his fingerprints. Kevin Campbell, born 1962, with convictions for assault and possession. And with known affiliations to the Lennox crime family, who are Glasgow drug traffickers.

The police also found the keys to Cat’s Vauxhall in Kevin’s pocket, highlighting his involvement in the kidnapping and prompting the reopening of the case.

And there’s one more very big question: Kevin had a bullet hole in his head. So who shot him?

“That death is an execution,” said River

“Something went wrong,” suggested Mint.

“And he was punished for it,” concluded Karen.

It seemed unlikely Kevin was acting alone, though. And he definitely didn’t seem to be an anarchist (or have any kind of political affiliations). So who else was involved?

Who was helping Kevin?

It turned out Kevin was actually working with two other guys – Andy Kerr and Mike Prentice.

Andy was a gambling addict who owed lots of money. He was also the owner of the run-down cottage where Cat and Adam were.

Kevin wanted to help Andy out, but just made things worse for the both of them. He got his older brother Ryan – who was also an associate of the Lennox crime family – to give Andy a loan, but Andy was never going to be able to pay it back (his addiction was so bad). Being in debt to the Lennoxes was potentially not good for his health. They weren’t happy with Kevin, either, for vouching for Andy in the first place.

So both Andy and Kevin were looking for a way out.

Then their mutual mate – part-time bouncer Mike Prentice – started dating Cat after a chance meeting outside a nightclub. They seemed to be truly, madly, deeply in love.

When Andy recognised Mick’s new squeeze as a loaded heiress, the kidnap plan started to form – but it looked like they were acting independently of the loved-up Mick.

However, at the end of the episode we learn that Mick was in on the plan too.

“He’s just a wee boy, I feel bad,” said Kevin outside the cottage where Adam and Cat were.

“Don’t tell me you’re getting soft Kevin,” said Mick, emerging from a car. “That’s the last thing we need.”

So it looked like Mick has been stringing Cat along all this time.

Read more: Need more of a refresher? Karen Pirie series 1 explained

How much of do the current investigating team know by the end of Karen Pirie, series 2, episode 1?

Karen and team have pretty much worked all this out – even if they don’t know the finer details – and are pretty much on the same level of understanding as the audience.

Mint found the cottage, then the current owner of the cottage (Andy’s sister) who divulged Andy’s details – adding that he died by suicide shortly after the kidnapping took place. (His body remains missing but there was a suicide note).

Karen collected all of Cat’s old artwork from her mother Mary, who’d carefully been storing it. In that collection, Isla – a new recruit to Team Pirie – spotted the repeated drawings of tattooed hands, which she and Karen assumed must belong to the same person. And that person was probably the secret boyfriend she’d been seeing (whom Bonnie had tipped them off about – though she was light on details).

Isla then found a poster Cat had designed for a miners’ benefit in 1984. Because Andy had been a striking miner, she dug out old archive news footage of that benefit which revealed that Cat, Mick, Andy and Kevin were all at the benefit (though they don’t know Mick’s identity yet, but they can see Cat and he are a couple).

Bel’s broadcast

Karen pondered that Kevin and Andy were following Mick and Cat. But they soon learned that Mick was probably involved too.

Because Phil had tracked down Kevin’s older brother Ryan by a not-strictly-within-the-rules method.

Phil suspected that Ryan is in witness protection, because all records of his activities stopped suddenly in 2021. This meant they shouldn’t try to contact him. Phil, though, found Ryan’s ex-wife, who had a mobile number for Ryan after called her when drunk one night (which he shouldn’t have done).

Phil left Ryan a number of messages on his mobile but got no response.

So Karen leaked the information about the discovery of Kevin’s body to Bel, who immediately broadcast it. Ryan saw the news about the death of his brother and finally contacted Phil.

Phil and Karen drove to Queensferry for a secret meeting with Ryan, who was indeed in witness protection for turning on the Lennoxes. He finally gave them Mick’s name and confirmed that Mick was working with Andy and Kevin.

Karen Pirie series 2 episode 1 recap: One final twist

Karen returns home to find her place ransacked. Someone had stolen her work laptop and hard drive – which she shouldn’t have taken out of the office in the first place.

What don’t we know by the end of Karen Pirie, series 2, episode 1?

• Whether Cat or Adam are still alive
• Why Kevin, Andy and Mick pretended to be The Anarchist Covenant of Scotland
• Who Cat called from the phone box or what the conversation was about

Karen Pirie series 2 is currently airing on ITV1 on Sundays at 8pm and all episodes are available on ITVX