Preview: In The Dark

Jess Gunning, left, as Det Con Sophie Carson, in the four-part crime drama In The Dark, MyAnna Buring as Det Insp Helen Weeks and Ben Batt as Det Insp Paul Hopwood challenge, but her tough exterior conceals a complex inner conflict.

When the husband of an estranged school friend is accused of abduction and later murder, Helen must return to her home town and confront her painful past.

From episode one it’s clear MyAnna Buring is a strong lead as Helen.

She’s a copper who loves her job. She is pregnant and working in Manchester when her small hometown Polesford (Marsden to you and me) hits the headlines when two schoolgirls, Abigail and Poppy, go missing.

As the BBC News shows a picture of the main suspect, Helen realises the man’s wife, Linda Jackson, was her childhood best friend and it takes her back to Polesford.

Joining her is her boyfriend, DI Paul Hopwood, instantly the more likeable and laid back of the two.

Helen and Paul begin to question the abduction and murder case – and we viewers do the same as there’s a few shifty characters.

There are flashback scenes to Helen and Linda’s childhood, when something happened which tore their friendship apart.

Then we realise Helen isn’t all she seems either – there’s a few surprises at the end which I won’t give away, but it’ll make you come back for episode two next week.