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Keeley Hawes and David Morrissey star in the new series of The Missing
Keeley Hawes and David Morrissey star in the new series of The Missing Keeley Hawes and David Morrissey star in the new series of The Missing

The Missing, Wednedays at 9pm, BBC1

THE Beeb's hit kidnap drama returned this week for a second series, featuring a fresh cast of characters and a gripping new abduction-themed storyline.

While there's no Jimmy Nesbitt this time around, dogged French detective Julien Baptiste (Tcheky Karyo) is back to help investigate the disappearance of a young English girl in Germany – a snatch that appears to have links to one of his old, still unsolved cases.

Keeley Hawes and David Morrissey star as the parents of Alice Webster (Abigail Hardingham), who reappears in a dazed and confused state 11 years after vanishing into thin air.

The narrative of the series opener switches between 2014, when Alice is reunited with her family, and the present day, where we begin to learn how her escape from captivity was far from the end of the Websters' nightmare.

We also catch up with Baptiste as he journeys to the war-torn Middle East in search of answers he may not get enough time to discover.

It's a thoroughly engrossing start to the new series of The Missing which already looks set to surpass the high standards set by its hugely popular debut season.

:: Catch up now on iPlayer.