ITV's The Dark follows Scottish detective hunting serial killer targeting teenage boys

ITV has launched a six-part crime thriller titled The Dark, adapted from Scottish crime writer GR Halliday's novel From the Shadows. The series opens with the discovery of a naked teenager's body staged in the Scottish Highlands, prompting Detective Inspector Monica Kennedy, played by Outlander star Laura Donnelly, to investigate what quickly becomes a serial killer case.

The investigation draws Kennedy and her partner, Detective Constable Connor Crawford (Mark Rowley), into a web of suspects and dark secrets within a remote Scottish community. The cast of potential culprits includes a stepfather with a troubled history, a secretive social worker, a local game hunter, and a mysterious masked figure who emerges as the primary threat. A key detail links the current victim to a teenager who vanished five years earlier—a case Kennedy had previously investigated.

Showrunner Matt Hartley deliberately shaped the narrative around teenage male victims rather than the female victims typically featured in crime dramas. In an interview ahead of the premiere, Hartley explained that he wanted to explore how communities react differently to the disappearance of young men and examine the vulnerabilities and frustrations of adolescent boys in isolated rural settings. This thematic choice distinguishes The Dark from established crime procedurals and reflects broader storytelling shifts around victim representation in television.

The series employs visual and narrative techniques designed to heighten tension: a gloomy, fog-laden Scottish atmosphere, a pathologist who communicates findings via audio voice notes rather than traditional morgue scenes, and a masked killer described as having an unsettling, ordinary appearance that becomes increasingly sinister upon closer inspection. Critics have noted the show's confidence and style, with comparisons drawn to True Detective for its use of landscape and atmosphere, and The Fall for its cat-and-mouse dynamic between detective and killer.

Hartley, who previously worked on British soaps including EastEnders and Hollyoaks, positioned The Dark as a distinctly British take on crime drama that moves beyond police precinct settings into the wilderness. He acknowledged the influence of both True Detective and Agatha Christie storytelling, while noting that viewers with keen detective skills may piece together the killer's identity before the final reveal. The first novel in Halliday's trilogy was adapted for this series, with the second book featuring a different crime; whether The Dark will continue beyond this initial run has not yet been confirmed.

The series premiered on ITV1 on 12 July 2026 at 9pm, with all episodes available on ITVX.