BBC Scotland’s Annika, the 6-part detective thriller that premiered its second season on October 1, 2025, has resurfaced from two years of radio silence with a vengeance that’s got fans gasping for air, plunging viewers back into Scotland’s icy depths where DI Annika Strandhed (Nicola Walker) chases unspeakably grim murders with a darkly funny, brutally sharp wit that’s moodier and weirder than Happy Valley‘s grit and more addictive than Broadchurch‘s coastal chill. Created by Nick Walker and directed by Shetland‘s Lee Haven Jones, the series—filmed in Glasgow’s grimy docks from January to July 2025—stars Walker, 55, as the “singular sleuth” whose Marine Homicide Unit probes a diver’s “forgive me” locket death, unspooling a web of whispers where families harbor horrors and foes nurse grudges. “It’s Broadchurch’s heart with Line of Duty’s edge – darker, more addictive, sooner than you thought,” Nick Walker tells Radio Times, his script a scalpel slicing through the “underrated” opacity of urban shadows.
The saga’s sinister surge? Spellbinding: Episode 1’s “Diver’s Descent” catapults Annika into the fray, a Clyde dredge hauling a body with lungs full of “fresh water”—drowned inland—and a locket’s “forgive me” a siren for sins long sunk. Walker’s Annika? A “masterclass in minimalism,” her wry quips (“Bodies don’t lie—people do”) warping to weary watchfulness, unraveling a ripple of regrets where a sister’s “suicide” surfaces as sabotage. 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. Walker’s script quivers with quips – “The Clyde keeps what it kills” – but the “brutal” brutality bites: A botched boat burial buries a body, a VVIP viper’s venom turns ally to assassin.
The “grittier than Happy Valley”? Seismic: Walker’s adaptation amps the “pacy” probe with “spooky” soundscapes and “authentic” accents, Jones’s direction a “gripping” gasp of “grim themes” in Glasgow’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 Finneran’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 mist,” 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, Annika‘s Annika a anthem for the anomalous where depths drown and divers defy. Annika’s acuity? Audacious. The Clyde’s curse? Cursed. October 1? Not a drop – a deluge. Binge it; the dredges disturb, the discoveries devastate. Walker’s wit? Wry, winning. The obsession? Overnight, inescapable.
