Belfast actor Laura Donnelly plays detective in new serial killer drama

NORTHERN Irish star Laura Donnelly leads the cast of a new ITV drama set to air this summer.

First look images released this week show Belfast-born Donnelly in action as Detective Inspector Monica Kennedy in The Dark.

Donnelly, who trained at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, has previously starred in the likes of HBO’s The Nevers, Starz’ Outlander and FX’s Say Nothing.

Laura Donnelly as DI Monica Kennedy in The Dark

She is a stage star too, having won the Best Actress Olivier Award in 2018 for her performance in The Ferryman, which was written by her long-term partner Jez Butterworth and directed by Sam Mendes.

Mark Rowley plays Detective Connor Crawford

Set in the Scottish countryside, The Dark is a six-part series based on GR Halliday’s debut novel From the Shadows.

Helen Baxendale as Bethany Morgan in the six part series

In it DI Kennedy embarks on a tense cat and mouse hunt for a twisted serial killer after a 16-year-old boy goes missing.

Mark Rowley stars as her new partner DC Connor Crawford, while Helen Baxendale plays distraught mother Bethany Morgan.

Tunji Kasim stars as Michael Bach

The images released this week “give audiences a chilling first glimpse of the murderer, masked, dangerous and poised to kill again” an ITV spokesperson said.

The series will air this summer

Adapted for the screen by Matt Hartley and produced by ITV’s Poison Pen Studios, The Dark will air on ITV, STV and on ITVX this summer.

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