Murder Island made its debut last night on Channel 4. Written by Ian Rankin, the show is an interesting mix of reality TV and a classic whodunit.
Set on the stunning island of Gigha in the Mull of Kintyre, the show lets four pairs of amateur detectives try and solve a murder case for a cash prize of £50,000.
‘Hirsa’ is the name of the fictional island community, but Gigha is actually a community-owned island which is home to 163 people.
If a pair of the wannabe detectives aren’t quite up to a professional standard, they are kicked off the case weekly.
Murder Island gives armchair detectives and sleuths the chance to find out what really happens behind the scenes, as ex-homicide detectives supervise.
They are constantly being watched by the rather intimidating senior investigating officer Parm Sandhu and her two deputies Simon Harding and Graham McMilan.
Yesterday's episode introduced the story of victim Charly Hendricks, a woman in her mid-thirties who moved to the island to escape her past life.
A vast range of clues have been supplied for the contestants to study, as well as plenty of fake blood, footprints, and a coroner’s report.
As each team searches the murder scene, they find significant evidence of a land dispute with a rich London business woman wanting to buy the property to create a resort.
The loyal islanders fight back, and the viewers, as well as the amateur detectives on screen get a taste of tension between certain characters.
Simon and McMilan remind them of an old police saying - “if you discover how a victim lived it will help you find out how they died.”
They begin to talk to locals who were the last to see Charlie alive, and do some digging into her relationships and lifestyle.
The teams have eight days to catch the killer and not even the experts know who the killer is.
With six parts to the first series airs weekly, it looks like us sleuths will have to wait a while until we find out the culprit.
Murder Island is on 9.30pm Tuesdays and is available on All4.
