Second instalment of critically acclaimed BBC One’s The Missing in production
The success of series one and response from the audience was incredible, and I am extremely excited for what the second series holds.
Ben Chanan is to direct the eight-episode series in its entirety with Tchéky Karyo returning as Julien Baptiste and David Morrissey and Keeley Hawes joining the sequel.
“To lose somebody can destroy a person. But to find them again, when so much has passed… Well. Sometimes… that can be worse.”Filming has commenced on a second series of the eight-part critically acclaimed thriller The Missing. Produced by New Pictures in association with Two Brothers Pictures for BBC One and Starz, The Missing will once again be written by Harry and Jack Williams, with series two being directed in its entirety by Ben Chanan (Cyberbully, The Last Kingdom).
Tchéky Karyo will reprise his role as detective Julien Baptiste as The Missing returns with a new case, new characters and a new location. The series follows Sam and Gemma, played by David Morrissey (The Walking Dead, Extant) and Keeley Hawes (Line Of Duty, The Casual Vacancy, The Durrells), whose daughter Alice went missing in 2003. In 2014, a young British woman stumbles through the streets of her German hometown and collapses. Her name is Alice Webster, played by newcomer Abigail Hardingham (Nina Forever), and she has been missing for 11 years. Alice’s return sends shockwaves through the small community. Told in dual timelines, flitting between 2014 and the present day, we follow Alice’s family as they are thrown back into a turmoil that threatens to tear them apart at the seams. When French missing person’s detective Julien Baptiste races across Europe to pursue a 12-year-old case that he never let die, we begin to explore the murky morality and emotional complexity of what happens when the missing child you’ve been longing to return actually comes back.
Tchéky Karyo, David Morrissey and Keeley Hawes are joined by Roger Allam (Endeavour, Tamara Drewe); Laura Fraser (Breaking Bad, Peter & Wendy, One of Us); Anastasia Hille (Show White And The Huntsman, Prey); Lia Williams (The Crown, The Foreigner); Abigail Hardingham; Jake Davies (X + Y, Yen); Florian Bartholomäi (Deutschland 83, Smaragdgrün, Tatort-Taxi nach Leipzig); and Daniel Ezra (Murdered By My Boyfriend, Blood Cells).
Harry and Jack Williams, writers (Two Brothers Pictures), said: “While we were writing the first series, we began talking about what the show would have been had Oliver Hughes been found. This story grew out of that discussion. It’s the other side of the coin to series one – an exploration of loss, of freedom, of how the past can shape the present in myriad ways that we cannot fully understand. It’s bigger, more ambitious, and we’re delighted to have such a brilliantly talented cast joining Julien Baptiste for a new case.”
Willow Grylls, Executive Producer for New Pictures, said: “I am so proud to have such a high calibre of cast attached to this project and, with the genius of Harry and Jack Williams’ scripts, I know the audience will be gripped to this series just as much as they were to the first. And the beloved Julien Baptiste is back! I am also thrilled to have the wonderful Ben Chanan as director leading the charge, telling the story as it twists and turns over two time frames. The Missing series two will be just as thrilling, heart-wrenching and character driven as you’d hope it to be. ”
Polly Hill, Controller of BBC Drama Commissioning, said: “The success of series one and response from the audience was incredible, and I am extremely excited for what the second series holds. Harry and Jack Williams have delivered compelling original scripts yet again, this time with a completely new case from a different perspective. David Morrissey and Keeley Hawes are two of the finest actors in the country, and we are thrilled to have them on board.”
Starz Managing Director, Carmi Zlotnik, said: “The talented Williams brothers take us on a thrilling journey in this next instalment with a new story, characters and locations that ultimately explores what happens when the missing child you’ve been searching for comes home. We are thrilled to continue this limited series and collaboration with the BBC, New Pictures and Playground.”
The hugely successful first series of The Missing had the whole nation gripped from the start, winning rave reviews and accolades and becoming appointment-to-view television for over 7 million people each week. It received four BAFTA Television Awards nominations, two Golden Globe® nominations, and a nomination at both the Critics’ Choice Television Awards and the Primetime Emmy Awards®.
The executive producers are Willow Grylls, Charlie Pattinson and Elaine Pyke for New Pictures, Harry and Jack Williams for Two Brothers Pictures, Polly Hill for the BBC, Eurydice Gysel for Czar TV, and Jan Vrints and Colin Callender. The producer is Julian Stevens. Series two was commissioned by Charlotte Moore, Controller of BBC TV Channels and iPlayer, and Polly Hill, Controller of BBC Drama Commissioning, and will consist of eight 60-minute episodes.
The Missing is produced by New Pictures in association with Two Brothers Pictures, co-produced with Czar TV, VRT, and BNP Paribas Fortis Film Finance and is filmed with the support of the Belgium federal government’s Tax Shelter scheme. The Missing is supported by the Screen Flanders economic fund, under the aegis of Economic Affairs Minister Philippe Muyters and Cultural Affairs Minister Sven Gatz. The second series will transmit on BBC One in the UK and STARZ in the US. All3media international retains all US rights not obtained by Starz. All3media International handles overseas sales for the show. The Missing has sold into over 170 territories to date.
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