Airdate: Loch Ness

ABC will screen UK mystery Loch Ness, about a murder in the picturesque village of Lochnafoy.

The 6 part ITV drama by screenwriter Stephen Brady (Fortitude, Vera, Taggart, Silent Witness)  features Laura Fraser and Siobhan Finneran.

This aired in the UK in June 2017.

Beneath the waters of Loch Ness, we see the pigment bleached body of an unidentified middle-aged man, curling stones tied to his ankles.

On her day off, Det Sergeant Annie Redford (Laura Fraser) is called upon by her boss DCI Frank Smilie (John Sessions) to clear up a gory prank, which reporters are claiming with tongue in cheek, to be the washed-up remains of the Loch Ness Monster. Annie, with a raging hangover, heads to the lochside where the inexperienced PC Jason Denny (Murray Fraser) helps her clear up the decaying animal entrails. Among the remains Jason finds a heart, which he bags.

Meanwhile, piano teacher Niall Swift (Jordan McCurrach) is sacked by widower Dr Marr (John Heffenan), for giving his daughter inappropriate music. When Swift accuses Marr of hypocrisy an argument ensues. Shortly afterwards Swift receives a text from someone who wants to meet him at a local beauty spot. A couple of hours later we see college principal, Craig Petrie (Alastair MacKenzie), in full running gear, standing over Swift’s twisted, broken, blooded body as it lies at the foot of a cliff. Before Petrie calls for help, he pockets Swift’s phone.

The pathologist ascertains that Swift was murdered and a sliver of his brain was removed. DCI Lauren Quigley (Siobhan Finneran) is seconded to the case to head up the investigation and is later joined by forensic psychologist Blake Albrighton (Don Gilet), whom she drafts in, much to Smilie’s dismay. Annie shows Quigley the spot where Swift was killed and finds a newspaper from the day of the murder in a gully nearby.

The investigation is further complicated when the heart Jason found among the animal remains turns out to be human. The teenagers responsible for the prank, Jonjo (Keiran Gallacher), Kieran (Jack Bannon) and Annie’s daughter Evie (Shona McHugh), are brought in for questioning, and Annie, now compromised, is off the case, causing tensions at home.

Elsewhere, we meet Kieran’s brother Jordan (Oliver Greenall), a young man with locked-in syndrome who awakens and begins to show signs of recovery. Could he be connected to the events and will the police identify the killer before he can strike again?

8:50pm Thursday August 30 on ABC.

Amended.