Karen Pirie writer explains key book change – and why the era had to stay the same

For season 2, the time period remains consistent with the book, A Darker Domain, in that it takes place in the 1980s. When speaking exclusively with Radio Times, writer and River star Emer Kenny and Karen star Lauren Lyle explained why this was crucial.

Kenny said: "This time it felt really important for it to be 1984, which is what it is in the book, because the background is the miners' strike, which, in the east of Scotland, was a massive thing in that area.

"And quite a few of our characters are living in those areas, and some of the miners, so it felt really important that we keep it there. Also, I really love that era. I think it's interesting politically, and I like the music and the style."

Lyle added: "In Scotland as well, there’s a slight difference to England. I think often when we hear about the strikes, it's to do with being down south, and you don't hear much about what happened up north."

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"Yeah, but it was still absolutely devastating," Kenny said. "Also, it’s quite important to Val because she's from that area, she lived through that."

Lyle said: "Literally where we filmed, often we would go to where Val is from. We'd put up some of our sets, you would see the old mounts, the pit heads, and we would use all that.

"And they've never been taken away, because they can't, they were just sort of abandoned. It's quite haunting and intense to be around that. It really puts into perspective how real some of that was."

Meanwhile, Kenny did explain one major change that she made from the book during the adaptation process - changing James Cosmo's character, Sir Broderick Grant AKA Brodie, from a property magnate into an oil magnate.

She said: "Brodie, the billionaire in the show, he wasn't an oil magnate in the book, he was a property magnate.

"But what I found really interesting was that the North Sea oil boom, which happened at a similar time, really affected the coal mining industry. It's what allowed them to close the mines, in some ways, because there was alternative fuel.

"I haven't heard that spoken about very often, so I found that really interesting. And I also thought that North Sea oil is so relevant to that area as well, it felt like something that would make sense to bring in."

Season 2 follows Karen as she and her team investigate the kidnapping of Brodie's daughter and grandson, Catriona and Adam Grant, who were taken at gunpoint outside a fish and chip shop in Fife, and never seen again.

Karen Pirie season 2 will air from Sunday 20th July 2025 on ITV1 and ITVX.

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