The Welsh Wicker Man: Just like the chilling film, new drama The Red King features a creepy island cult... and a stranded cop in peril
- Anjli Mohindra plays Sgt Grace Narayan, who is banished after whistleblowing
- READ MORE: Bodyguard star describes her struggles as an up-and-coming British Asian actress
Take the dark murders that play out on the desolate Scottish isles in Shetland, mix in the sinister religious rituals of film The Wicker Man, set in the Hebrides, and you'll get something like Alibi's creepy new series The Red King.
Except the action here takes place on a remote Welsh island, where the locals practise their own pagan religion and dance on the streets in eerie masks.
Much like Edward Woodward's Sgt Howie in The Wicker Man it follows a city cop, who in this case has been dumped on the island as a punishment, only to end up isolated, vulnerable and terrified.
And that mix of folk horror and police procedural is exactly what writer Toby Whithouse was after.
'I'm fascinated with cults, and how people find themselves drawn deeper and deeper into something quite dark,' he says. 'They do things they thought unimaginable beforehand.'
(L-R) Adjoa Andoh as Lady Heather Nancarrow, Anjli Mohindra as Grace Narayan and Marc Warren as Dr Ian Prideaux
The Lazarus Project's Anjli Mohindra plays Sgt Grace Narayan, banished from her city beat after whistleblowing on colleagues.
On the island of St Jory she meets offkilter locals played by a raft of famous faces including Van Der Valk's Marc Warren, Bridgerton's Adjoa Andoh and Outlander's Mark Lewis Jones. Ex-EastEnder Jill Halfpenny plays a mainland cop called in to help.
The first case Grace delves into is that of Cai Prideaux, a 14-year-old who went missing a year before, leaving his grieving father Dr Ian Prideaux (Warren) searching for answers.
Perplexed at the lax investigation by her predecessor Gruffudd Prosser (Lewis Jones), Grace confronts him and begins to make a nuisance of herself. She is the antithesis of the maverick TV cop so beloved of scriptwriters.
Instead, Grace is a brittle jobsworth who can't overlook any bad behaviour, even teens having a cheeky party at home.
'She's very socially anxious, and being a police officer is very straightforward to her,' explains Anjli, 34. 'So work is her safe space and that's why she's so determined to do everything by the book. She rubs people up the wrong way and is very happy to lose friends over it.
'I spoke to a police advisor called Lisa Farrand who Happy Valley's Catherine Cawood is based on, and I got so much about Grace from Lisa's personality – that strength, conviction and making sure the letter of the law is being followed.'
The Lazarus Project's Anjli Mohindra plays Sgt Grace Narayan, banished from her city beat after whistleblowing on colleagues
Initially Grace is warmly welcomed to the island by posh Lady Heather Nancarrow (Adjoa Andoh), whose grandfather invented the island's pagan religion – The True Way.
But as Grace sticks her nose into the case of missing Cai, she finds herself in jeopardy. Putting Grace in a place where at times even phone contact with the outside world is impossible ramps up the sense of unease, says writer Toby.
'At the end of episode two, this annual bizarre weather front lands on the island and severs it from the mainland. I wanted Grace to have no escape so she's forced to confront these challenges, to magnify the tension.'
Despite fictional St Jory being an island off Pembrokeshire, The Red King was filmed mostly in Northumberland along the county's glorious coastline.
Yet the beauty contrasts with the ugliness of the island's secrets, and The Red King captures that sharp divide and introduces horror into the familiar police genre.
'When people hear 'murder' and 'detective' they'll expect something we're used to,' says Jill Halfpenny. 'But what they'll get is something a bit more unnerving. I can imagine it'll be fun for people on Gogglebox!
- The Red King starts Wednesday 24 April at 9pm on Alibi
