ITV's The Dark Explores Serial Killer Terror in Scottish Highlands with Male Victim at Centre
Showrunner Matt Hartley adapted the narrative to explore how society perceives disappearances of young men differently than their female counterparts.
ITV's new six-part crime thriller The Dark centres on a serial killer case in the Scottish Highlands, with a deliberate narrative choice: the primary victim is a young man rather than a woman. Writer Matt Hartley adapted the story specifically to avoid the typical "women being massacred in woods" trope that dominates contemporary crime drama. The shift represents an intentional creative decision to examine victimhood and vulnerability through a different lens.
The Story and Cast
The narrative opens with the discovery of a young man's body staged in remote wilderness—a visual echo of prestige crime dramas like True Detective, but grounded in distinctly British terrain. Detective Inspector Monica Kennedy, portrayed by Laura Donnelly (known for Outlander and The Fall), uncovers a connection to the victim's older brother, who vanished years earlier. A masked serial killer drives the investigation forward, described in the script as someone with an ordinary appearance on first glance but increasingly unsettling upon closer inspection.
As the body count rises across the six episodes, Kennedy pursues a cat-and-mouse dynamic with an adversary who operates in isolation. The killer's methods employ twisted techniques that establish an atmosphere of dread throughout the remote landscape.
Creative Intent Behind Male-Centred Narrative
Hartley explained his adaptation choice to media outlets: exploring victimhood through young men at a transitional life stage—where independence beckons but vulnerability remains acute—felt unexplored in mainstream crime television. The show examines the "frustrations" of young men in isolated communities, a theme Hartley connected to his own adolescent experience. He noted that society often assumes young women are more vulnerable than their male counterparts, yet rarely examines how communities mobilise differently when young men disappear.
The production draws inspiration from True Detective's "haunting use of landscape, atmosphere and tone" while channelling BBC's The Fall's investigative intensity into a British wilderness setting. Rather than confining the drama to police precincts, the narrative unfolds across open terrain, allowing environment to shape psychological tension.
Who plays the detective in The Dark ITV series?+
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