Karen Pirie

I don't get it, seems like most of the reviews are written by people who's first language is English and they say it's unintelligible, I personally didn't have any problem and English is my third language, didn't find any problems with sound nor anything else that would make it hard to hear or understand what actors were saying.

Also someone wrote that the main character is too young! Too young for what exactly? To be a good policeman, to be a policeman and a woman to be in charge, sounds like some old fart has written the review, who has some issues with young women being smart, in charge and being able to do their job..

Can't also agree that it was predictable, enjoyed it quite a lot.

The character Karen Pirie is a real woman. Not a woman written by a man. Not a woman written by a woman just to make a point. This character feels real. She is soft and strong, awkward and assertive all at the same time. Is it the greatest crime story ever? No, probably not. But it is a good story with an outstanding lead character. The rest of the cast is great and noticably diverse. Story lines were created, that managed to circumvent clichés and steered clear of stereotypes. This is what I want to see more of and I am hoping for a second season to see Karen Pirie step up even more as a successful detective, while nurturing genuine relationships.

I'm generally highly critical in my reviews and often can not understand why people score obvious rubbish highly. For a change, it's nice to be able to aware a series a 10.

When so many series have more holes in the pot than a golf course, it's nice to come across a gem like this which is as near perfect as one could hope for and with an excellent cast featuring a rising star in Lauren Lyle.

Yes, the point is regularly made by experts in the real police that too many roles are cast where the investigating officer is far younger than would be the case in the real life. Lauren Lyle is only 29 and hence that criticism would be entirely valid (and which has been made here by other reviewers who have completely missed the point) except for one rather key fact: she was chosen to lead the cold case investigation because she was thought a dead certainty to fail. Of course, someone that young would never be assigned to this sort of case in real life but if you don't understand why she was appointed to this case in this tv series, then you really have missed the point of the story.

Anyway, this is as close to perfect as I've seen in a while and let's hope more of Val's Karen Pirie novels can be made into television series in future years.

D. S. Karen Pirie is brought into The Serious Crimes unit, and tasked with investigating a cold case, involving the death of a young barmaid.

Firstly, it's nice that after Ridley, that we're given another new mystery series, ITV really are going for the Sunday evening slot, I'm a fan of the two hour dramas, question is, does Karen Pirie cut the mustard?

For the most part, yes, well written, well acted and well produced, there's nothing particularly unique or original, but what was done, was done well. A little different, in that it's not a series of mysteries, it's a continuation of the same story.

As a big fan of Emer Kenny, it was interesting to see how her writing skills compared to her acting ones, she's clearly talented at both.

It's visually very good, though some of the dialogue is a little tough to follow, I had to have the subtitles on for the first ten minutes, as I just couldn't make it out.

Lauren Lyle did a good job in the title role, well acted, I'm hoping we learn a little more about Pirie.

A good watch, 7/10.

It's a good drama that has a plot that holds up for me the whole season, and this does. A good script highlighted by the small touches and lack of speeches so that it actually sounded like people talking to each other and not speaking to move the plot along. A current trope of time shifting is here too, but relevant. The acting was also down to earth without anyone trying to steal scenes. The setting of St Andrews's will add to any drama, and if anything was under used, but still played a role. The actors have experience in unflashy tv dramas and with no "stars" it was a real ensemble production and much better for it...