The Dark, a new six-part thriller on ITV, is a gothic-lite crime drama that blends icy dread with stylish storytelling. Based on Scottish crime writer GR Halliday's From the Shadows, the series opens with an unseen man crafting leather straps and carrying a naked man's body across the Highlands. The arms swing like metronomes, marking time that has already run out.
Plot and Setting
The body is later revealed via drone shot, laid supine with arms pointed prayerfully. DI Monica Kennedy (Laura Donnelly) is called to investigate, spinning a cold, webby mass of intrigue. The setting, often gloomy or dreich, enhances the chilling atmosphere, making it a perfect antidote to a heatwave.
The corpse is 17-year-old Jason Morgan, younger brother of a boy who went missing five years ago. DI Kennedy investigated that case too. She tells her new partner Crawford (Mark Rowley) that there was gossip about stepfather Barclay (Emun Elliott) killing the lad, Nichol, but evidence suggested he ran away. The news is broken to parents Bethany (Helen Baxendale) and Barclay with spare, devastating realism.
Investigation and Characters
As the investigation into Jason's death begins, other players emerge. Rob (Aaron McVeigh), a waiter at the local hotel, finds a burner phone taped to his bike handlebars. His mother, who abandoned him and his father, texts him on it, apologizing and wanting to meet. DI Kennedy soon realizes she is on the trail of a serial killer.
Clues include swallowed stones, drugged teas, and stuffed animals. Suspects include Nichol's former social worker Michael (Tunji Kasim), now on heavy medication; Rob's austere father (Cal Macaninch); Barclay; shadowy rabbit poacher Don (Phil McKee); and a local older lad. More will move in and out of focus, keeping viewers hungry for answers.
DI Kennedy: A Refreshing Detective
Kennedy herself stands out: a female detective with childcare arrangements sorted (a grandma played by Stella Gonet) and a backstory beyond single-mom guilt. Tantalizing hints of her past come from locals who remember her pregnancy with strange interest, and a woman set on returning her child to the father. This thickens rather than distracts from the main plot.
There are infelicities: intuitive leaps, unlikely actions (e.g., Kennedy picking up flowers at a hospital when told), and a wildly overwritten pathologist with lines like "Dark as the darkest soul" in a thick Eastern European accent. Still, the series is great fun, chilling to the bone. The Dark aired on ITV1 and is on ITVX.
