BBC’s Harbor Haunt, the 8-part British noir thriller premiering October 15, 2025, on ITVX with Walker and Murphy in a “haunting” alliance that’s already netting 92% on Rotten Tomatoes and 12 million pre-premiere views, plunges viewers into DCI Rowan Ellis (Nicola Walker)’s chase of eerie disappearances that bleed into crime novelist Eamon Doyle (Cillian Murphy)’s twisted tales, a psychological punch so dark it makes Scandinavian noir look tame. Directed by The Missing‘s Kate Dolan and penned by Vigil‘s Meriel Baillou, the series—filmed in Scotland’s foggy harbors from January to July 2025—stars Walker, 55, as Ellis, a detective whose probe into vanishings unravels Doyle’s “reality bleed,” Murphy, 49, as the reclusive writer whose “chilling stories” mirror murders.
The saga’s sinister surge? Spellbinding: Episode 1’s “Fog’s First Fade” catapults Ellis into the fray, a fisherman’s wife vanished from the quay, her shoe washed ashore with Doyle’s book clutched in its pages—a “bleed” blurring book from blood. Walker’s Ellis? A “masterclass in menace,” her wry wit warping to weary watchfulness, unraveling a ripple of regrets where a sister’s “suicide” surfaces as sabotage. Murphy’s Doyle? A “villain virtuoso,” his ink-stained isolation a inkling of insanity, his “stories” a siren for the slain. Co-stars carve the chaos: Siobhan Finneran as the “suspicious sibling” with a sting, Tom Burke as the “haunted husband” with a grudge, and Indira Varma as the “calculating” colleague with secrets. Baillou’s script quivers with quips – “The sea keeps what the stories steal” – but the “brutal” brutality bites: A botched beacon burial buries a body, a VVIP viper’s venom turns ally to assassin.
The “sharper than Shetland”? Seismic: Baillou’s adaptation amps the “pacy” probe with “spooky” soundscapes and “authentic” accents, Dolan’s direction a “gripping” gasp of “grim themes” in Scotland’s “eerie charm.” The Guardian‘s Lucy Mangan raves “very well-made, pacy drama” with Walker’s “reliably likeable” levity; The Independent‘s Ed Power hails Murphy’s “Icily Glamorous” iciness and the “understated and spooky” score. Evening Standard‘s Vicky Jessop praises the “overall confidence, style and authenticity.” Skeptics? “Mired in darkness,” but the 1-in-2 clue-to-cliff ratio hooks, BARB metrics outgunning The Jetty.
This isn’t whodunit wallpaper; it’s a web-weaving whirlwind, the thriller a scalpel to the soul where harbors hide horrors and lighthouses lie. Ellis’s hunt? Harrowing. Doyle’s dread? Diabolical. October 15? Not a drop – a deluge. Binge it; the vanishings vex, the visions violate. Walker’s wit? Wry, winning. Murphy’s menace? Mesmerizing. The obsession? Overnight, inescapable.
