
Inside the filming locations behind season 2 of ITV crime drama Karen Pirie
The whodunnit is set and filmed in Scotland, with its incredible scenes of breathtaking coastal lines and historic villages lending the series an eerie quality.
2
Lauren Lyle returns as DS Karen Pirie with Chris Jenks as DC Jason Murray
What is Karen Pirie about?
The gritty cop drama is produced by
Line of Duty
bosses
and follows Detective Inspector Karen Pirie, freshly promoted after the events of series one.
Based on crime writer
In the second season, Karen is put in charge of an infamous cold case from the 80s that has gained fresh scrutiny from senior police, the media, and the victim's relatives.
In 1984, Catriona Grant, the daughter of a wealthy local oil tycoon, was abducted, along with her infant son.
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The ransom notes that followed stirred up a huge press storm, but the culprits were never traced and neither Catriona nor her son were seen again.
But when, in the present day, a body is found with an undeniable link to the historic crime, Karen and her team must discover the truth under intense personal and professional pressure.
Here's a list of where some scenes were filmed:
The kidnapping scene – Kinghorn, Fife
Karen Pirie opens with the dramatic kidnapping scene that the series revolves around.
Most read in Drama
2
It's been a busy year for Lauren, who has also appeared in Toxic Town and The Bombing of Pan Am 103
Oil tycoon heiress Catriona and her infant son Adam meet up with close friend Bonnie. They grab fish and chips, before taking in the views of the coast from Kinghorn station. But when they all bid farewell, Catriona and Adam are bundled into a car and abducted.
These scenes were filmed on the streets of Kinghorn, a coastal town in Fife, with additional footage captured in the nearby town of Inverkeithing.
The hostages scene – the Luss Estate in Loch Lochmond
This location is featured across both timelines, with viewers first seeing Karen investigate the remote cottage where Catriona and Adam were held, before later flashback scenes showing Catriona and her abductors in a fierce showdown.
The Highland estate on the banks of Loch Lochmond has previously featured in Black Mirror and Netflix's The Outlaw King.
How to survive TRNSMT 2025
The romantic scene – The Citizen in Glasgow
In the present day, Karen has her own struggles to deal with outside of the murder case. She's grappling with her relationship with police colleague Phil, as the pair struggle to keep work and romance separate.
In the opening episode, the pair head to Glasgow's The Citizen bar and restaurant for a date.
The police station scenes – Glenrothes police station
When she's not travelling across Scotland to investigate the crime, Karen can be found in the police station, regrouping with her colleagues on the case.
The police station scenes were filmed at the real Glenrothes police Station in
The fateful scene – Glasgow's Barrowland Ballroom
Legendary music venue the Barrowland also features in season 2. In one of the flashback scenes, we see pals Catriona and Bonnie head out to a nightclub to blow off some steam, where the former meets a shady character who becomes pivotal to her abduction plot.
Iconic music venue Barrowland set for major overhaul
THE Barrowlands is set for a major upgrade of its iconic neon illuminated facade.
The music venue in
The firm that owns the premises as well as the Barras Marketplace, Margaret McIver Ltd, has lodged plans with the city council to upgrade the front of the building.
The proposals include adding two LED displays above the Gallowgate entrance, as reported by the
The renowned neon signage was originally installed in 1982.
The Barrowland Ballroom was first opened as a dance hall by Maggie McIver on December 24, 1934.
Other world-famous musicians who have played to audiences over the decades include
,
, Iggy Pop,
, and
.
The showdown scene – Caiplie Caves, Anstruther
The Caiplie Caves are used as a filming location for dramatic scenes as the series reaches its climax.
In the present day, Karen and her colleagues inspect the caves, and find a vital clue to solving the mystery.
In the past, there's a tense showdown between Catriona's abductors and her family members.
The investigation scenes – Malta
As the investigation comes to a head and secrets from 40 years ago are uncovered, Karen and her team head to Malta to pursue a suspect.
Filming took place in Malta's capital, Valletta, with its historic 16th-century buildings and coastal views giving an idyllic contrast to the harrowing murder case.
Who is in the Karen Pirie cast?
Lauren Lyle returns as Detective Inspector Karen Pirie. It's been a busy year for the actress having also appeared in Toxic Town and The Bombing of Pan Am 103.
Chris Jenks (Sex Education) stars as DC Jason 'Mint' Murray, with Zach Wyatt (The Witcher: Blood Origin) as Karen's boyfriend and colleague, DS Phil Parhatka.
James Cosmo (Braveheart) plays oil tycoon Sir Broderick Grant, while Julia Brown (The Last Kingdom) is victim Catriona Grant, daughter of Sir Broderick.
When is Karen Pirie season 2 released?
The second series of Karen Pirie started at 8pm on ITV on Sunday, July 20.
There are three episodes in the series, with the remaining two airing on Sunday, July 27 and Sunday, August 3.
All episodes are available to stream on ITVX.
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The nice thing about being in Ireland, which I completely appreciate about the Irish, is that they don't give a damn about celebrities — Showrunner Alfred Gough He is speaking to The Irish Times from his production office on the first floor at Ashford – next door to the dressingroom of Catherine Zeta-Jones (who plays Wednesday's mother, Morticia Addams) and up the stairs from the studio space housing Wednesday's dorm and Nevermore's gleefully grotesque new science lab – in part inspired by Dublin's 'Dead Zoo' aka the Natural History Museum on Merrion Square. It's a 'closed set', meaning journalists are not allowed within gawping distance of the cast. So there is no opportunity to watch Jenna Ortega reprise her part as woebegone Wednesday or executive producer Tim Burton return to direct four of the eight episodes in his distinctively baroque style. Nor is there confirmation of the presence of Lady Gaga , rumoured to have flown in to Wicklow to shoot a cameo the previous week. Gough is avuncular in that gosh-darn American way. He is also a proven hitmaker, as demonstrated by series such as Smallville and Into the Badlands, the Wicklow-filmed fantasy caper that has a loyal cult audience. Wednesday, however, is a success on an entirely different scale. When it launched in 2022, it became one of the world's most beloved binge watches more or less overnight, propelling Ortega to instant stardom. 'Do you anticipate that? No,' says Gough. 'We thought the show was good. And we thought it would appeal to the audience everybody thought it would appeal to [ie Addams Family and Burton fans]. Then when it kind of became this other thing ... That's a combination of factors.' He feels Wednesday is the perfect heroine for troubled times. While outwardly hostile and aloof, underneath she is vulnerable and unsure of herself – an introvert in an extrovert's world. Coming out of the pandemic, millions identified with a shy young woman who wanted nothing more than to be given the space to be herself. Gough nods. 'It was the right show at the right time, where, clearly, everybody identified with Wednesday and feels like an outcast.' Joonas Suotamo, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Jenna Ortega, Isaac Ordonez and Luis Guzmán in series two of Wednesday. Photograph: Helen Sloan/Netflix Several factors contribute to a hit such as Wednesday, he continues. Ortega was a star in the making, having appeared in Netflix's You and Yes Day, while Burton, director of the 1989 Batman movie and of Beetlejuice, has a significant following. And the Addams Family has brand recognition – largely thanks to the early 1990s films starring a young Christina Ricci as Wednesday. But sometimes it's all down to luck, feels Gough. 'That's just when you hit the culture at a certain point. We had that experience with Smallville,' he says, referring to the all-American Superman prequel which celebrated the wholesomeness of small-town life. 'Smallville came out in 2001, a month after 9/11, and it was suddenly like comfort food for the American soul. Everybody needed a hero and that. Some of these things you can't predict. But then I do think it speaks to the power of Netflix and the power of that platform.' [ Wednesday: The Addams Family gets a Gen Z twist – and Tim Burton gets his mojo back Opens in new window ] Wednesday is set in rural Vermont – for which Wicklow was the perfect stand-in. The producers made full use of dark and mysterious forests around Roundwood – and of 18th-century Powerscourt Estate, which it repurposed as the palatial residence of Hester Frump, Wednesday's impish grandmother, played by Lumley. A favourable tax regime helped too: Ireland recently improved its Section 481 film and TV incentives, raising the cap on eligible expenditure from €70 million to €125 million (each of Wednesday's eight new episodes carries a reported budget of around €17 million). 'We tried to get here in season one, and it was right after the pandemic, when the world, at least the film world, was opening up again,' says Gough. 'And literally between Brexit and the rush of other productions, we couldn't. There was no stage. Our last show was called Into the Badlands. And the old warehouses that we had shot in, I think, had become Covid test centres or, like, package depots because of Brexit. So we ended up in Romania season one, which worked out great. It gave us all the space that we needed, but it wasn't conducive for a long-term television show. When we had the opportunity to come to Ireland, we all jumped on it.' Gough acknowledges there is pressure – after Stranger Things and Squid Game, Wednesday is Netflix's bigger franchise. The streamer has doubled the budget for series two, but there are also concerns over whether its audience has remained loyal; after all, the 14-year-olds who went crazy for Wednesday's goth chic in 2022 will be 17 in 2025 and may have moved on. Gough tries not to get bogged down in any of that. He quotes Quentin Tarantino's mantra about film-making: ultimately, you have to create something you yourself would wish to watch. 'If we don't love it, how are we supposed to expect anyone else to love it?' he says. 'We have a very high bar for ourselves. It's harder, obviously, with all the noise, and it obviously affects the actors and other things. And you know, we're not some little show in the middle of eastern Europe this year.' Amid the hype, he feels Ireland has kept everyone grounded – one final magical ingredient sprinkled into Netflix's bubbling, boiling bingewatch cauldron. 'If we had been in America trying to shoot the show, or even in the UK, we'd have a lot of paparazzi. There'd be a lot of spoiler pictures. We've had very little of that,' he says. 'The nice thing about being in Ireland, which I completely appreciate about the Irish is that they don't give a damn about celebrities. You do not care.'


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