Series 1 of The Killing began airing on BBC Four in January and concluded last Saturday.

Series 2 will see Sofie Gråbøl return as Sarah Lund, alongside Morten Suurballe as Brix and Nicolas Bro as the Minister of Justice.

The official synopsis for Series 2 is as follows: “The body of a woman is found in a Copenhagen park… An ex-soldier who served in Afghanistan is savagely killed… Copenhagen’s Homicide Department is stumped. Detective Commander Brix decides to send for Chief Inspector Sarah Lund, who has been banished to the provinces after her last murder investigation, and Lund soon discerns a common thread in the cases. Parallel to Lund, both the Minister of Justice and an escaped convict are also desperately searching for the murderer. They are the protagonists of a twisting tale of top-level cover-ups, betrayals and lies set in a time of fear – that of Islamic terrorism.”

Richard Klein, Controller BBC Four, commented: “The Killing is the most intensely thrilling televison drama experience in British broadcasting at the moment. It is a diamond of a series – complex, dramatic, thoroughly gripping. It never loses sight of its truly brilliant insight: into the humanity and the emotion that goes on behind a police investigation into a brutal and sordid murder. At its heart, this is The Killing‘s genius – to truly portray the human cost of tragedy.”

The official synopsis for Spiral 3: The Butcher Of La Villette is as follows: “When the mutilated body of a young woman is found on a disused railway track in the north of Paris, Police Captain Laure Berthaud leads her squad on the hunt for what she believes to be a deranged serial killer, delving into the mysterious recesses of a disturbed mind. Meanwhile, Judge François Roban probes a bribery scandal involving a prominent politician; the impeccable career of Public Prosecutor Pierre Clément falls into disrepute; and ambitious barrister Joséphine Karlsson attempts to untangle herself from some dubious associations.”