ITV recommissions cold-case crime drama Karen Pirie for a third series

The show stars Lauren Lyle, and is adapted by Gillian Roger Park and produced by World Productions, part of ITV Studios.

What do we know about series 3 of Karen Pirie

From the press release, we learn that following the success of the second series, averaging 5.3 million viewers with a peak of 5.6 million when it aired on ITV and STV last year, World Productions will produce The Skeleton Road, Val McDermid’s gripping and suspenseful third book in the Karen Pirie series of novels. The second series was also streamed 11 million times on ITVX and STV Player. Gillian Roger Park (The Young Offenders, Avenue 5, The Bombing of Pan Am 103) will adapt the novel into a 6 x 1 hour series, which will start filming next year.

The story starts with the discovery of a man’s remains hidden in the roof of a derelict Edinburgh building. DI Karen Pirie learns that the victim fled the Balkans conflict of the 1990s for the safety of Scotland to marry a now famous author, whose identity stirs up a hornets’ nest of publicity. As the investigation develops, Karen unearths dangerous secrets and a vicious cycle of revenge as someone takes justice into their own hands. Can Karen stop the killer before they kill again? And when present resentment collides with secrets of the past, the truth is more shocking than anyone could have imagined.

We expect the show will air in 2027, so a wait before any more news!