Lisa Armstrong is the mother of two children and working for West Lancashire Police Service as a Family Liaison Officer. She is called out on the case of two missing children only to find the married stepfather of the twins is someone that she had sex with in an alley behind a pub on the night the twins disappeared whilst out on a friend's hen do. As a FLO, Armstrong is trained not to become emotionally involved with cases she is working on, but her sexual encounter with Sean, threatens to compromise the investigation. Although she can prove that he isn't responsible for their disappearance, Armstrong deletes the CCTV footage of them having sex, rather than come clean and admit to the one-night stand and provide Sean with an alibi. Series 2 was confirmed on 4 May 2019; airdate in early 2020.
The series has been labelled the Northern Broadchurch, or the New Broadchurch after a similar British crime drama called Broadchurch starring Olivia Colman and David Tennant. The writer of the series, Daragh Carville, is originally from Northern Ireland, but wanted to set something in where he now lives. The series was shot in and around Morecambe, particularly on the beaches and in the Winter Gardens, where writer Daragh Carville, stated that the people of Morecambe took quite an interest in the show and were keen to see that they, and their town, were not misrepresented on screen. Other scenes were also shot in Manchester, Whitehaven and Grange-over-Sands.
Ratings
Viewing figures are from
Reception
The Daily Telegraph rated the first and second episodes in the series with three stars out of five, and whilst acknowledging the lead character's portrayal, described the series as "Lancashire’s riposte to/total rip-off of Broadchurch". The Independent also awarded it three stars out of five, labelling the series as having texture, but that the characterisation of the conundrum faced by DS Armstrong as being "cold". The Guardian was more positive and gave it four stars out of five stating "Suspects and police officers with shared secrets? Check. Information wilfully withheld by the writer? Check. Will you be hooked? Check." Katrina Williams, writing in the Glasgow Guardian highlighted the high standard of production amidst the formulaic setting of the crime drama and noted that "I wasn't desperate for the next episode, but the first episode still managed to strike my interest".
