Gripping new ITV police thriller starts tonight

There's a new police thriller heading to ITV and it sounds like it'll keep us glued to our sofas.

Starting tonight (Sunday 24 March), six-part series Passenger takes place in Chadder Vale, a small tight-knit town with a real distrust of outsiders.

D.I. Riya Ajunwa is bored of solving petty crimes and looking after her senile mother-in-law in a place where nothing interesting ever happens.

Then, a local girl called Katie Wells disappears in the forest in the middle of the night. Weird, right?

Even stranger is the fact that just 24 hours after she goes missing, Katie shows up at home, safe and sound.

But Detective Rina's not convinced all is well and is left with an ever-mounting list of questions.

Why won't Katie tell anyone what happened in the forest? Why are other young people disappearing, seemingly in connection with a fracking site on the outskirts of town?

And, is it all connected to Katie's father, Eddie Wells, who's just been released from prison? Riya is sure that Eddie and his brother are hiding something.

BAFTA winner Wunmi Mosaku stars as the show's lead protagonist — Detective Inspector Riya Ajunwa.

The actress — who's previously starred in the likes of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Black Mirror — is joined by David Threlfall (Shameless, Funny Woman), Rowan Robinson (So Awkward), Jo Hartley (After Life, In My Skin) and Sean Gilder (The Gold, Shameless).

ITV describes Passenger as a 'darkly comic thriller,' with executive producers calling it 'twisted' and 'horrifying.'

ITV

The series creator, writer and associate producer Andy Buchan — known for acting in the likes of Broadchurch and The Crown — says: "I’ve always loved shows where the known collides with the unknown… where you see communities faced with something horrifying and inexplicable, where, as a viewer, you’ve nothing in your kit-bag to explain it.

"When I started writing the scripts, I wanted to create something epic and unknown but also bed it somewhere close to home.

"Having grown up in Lancashire it felt like the perfect place for it. We’ll definitely see the residents of Chadder Vale pushed to their limits."

The first episode of Passenger will be broadcast on ITV1 and ITVX at 9pm on Sunday 24 March.

The second episode will air during the same time slot on Monday 25 March with all remaining episodes being shown at the same time across following weeks.