Season 1 of A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder peeled back the chocolate box facade of Little Kilton as Pip uncovered the devastating truth about what really happened to Andie Bell five years after she disappeared. But according to the cast, season 2, based on Holly Jackson’s follow-up novel Good Girl, Bad Blood, is “definitely darker”.
This time around, Pip is determined to stay out of trouble after the fallout from her previous investigation. But when Connor’s brother Jamie disappears just as Max’s trial approaches, she’s drawn into another chilling mystery involving revenge, catfishing and child murder.
“We’d all read the books, we knew what was in store, but it was really nice to come in and delve a bit deeper and get a bit darker,” Asha Banks, who plays Cara, told Radio Times.
And as the final credits roll, the full extent of that darkness is unveiled when Pip discovers that her new neighbour Charlie is actually “Layla Mead” – a fake online persona he created while hunting for “Child Brunswick”, the son of a serial child killer responsible for the murder of his sister.
That revelation alone is deeply unsettling, but Jackson, who also joined the writing team for season 2, raises the stakes further when it emerges that the killer used his own son to help lure victims into his clutches. And that son is eventually revealed to be Stanley, whose real name is Jack.
“Holly has such an amazing way of presenting you with a tangled web and by the end it’s entirely untangled, and you don’t even know how you got there,” Banks said. “When I read the book, I was like, ‘Oh my God, these characters that you know that you just would never have expected.’ And right at the end everything falls into place and you suddenly see the map – the untangled web – for what it is.
“And especially watching it, is so thrilling. It’s very satisfying, but also shocking.”
Read more:
- A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder stars reveal how season 2 “expands” on beloved book
- Holly Jackson: ‘I’m surprised I wasn’t arrested for research on Good Girl’s Guide to Murder’
Eden H Davies, who plays Jamie, also praised the “real moments of impact” Jackson weaves into her storytelling, after his character is duped into believing he’s speaking to the real Layla online.
“I think the audience, as well as the characters, evolve their opinion over time,” he explained.
“There’s this huge reveal and I think we’re left – both as characters and audience members – starting from one perspective, before that evolves through the journey.”
Even Henry Ashton, who plays the odious Max, admitted the finale twist caught him completely off guard.
“I had absolutely no idea,” he said. “Holly’s so good at that. Usually you can figure it out with some stories and books and TV shows, but she’s so good at hiding it.”
For Jude Morgan-Collie, who plays Connor, the reveal was still thrilling despite already knowing the story from the books.
“You’re obviously reading it a different way, and also hearing it come out of people’s mouths,” he said. “The first read-through is always fun, especially with a mystery like this. But there was still a huge reaction at the end, even though most of us had read it already.”
But while the mystery may be solved, Pip is left deeply traumatised after Stanley is shot dead by Charlie, who flees before he can be arrested – trauma that is only compounded by the threatening message she later discovers on her laptop.
“It’s crazy, it’s so inconceivable what’s happened to her, and what’s been going on in this small town,” one cast member reflected. “The craziest things keep happening, and especially to her.
“She has Ravi and her friends, but nobody knows it like she does, and they never will. Nobody’s ever going to fully understand it. She’s completely changed, and now she has to deal with that.”
Morgan-Collie also hinted at a more ominous direction for Pip moving forward.
“There’s a darkness to Pip at the end,” he said. “Even down to the way it’s shot in those last few scenes. There’s definitely a tone change, and it’ll be really exciting to hopefully see Emma [Myers] play that out.”
A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder season 2 will arrive on BBC iPlayer on Wednesday 27 May. Season 1 is available to stream on BBC iPlayer and Netflix. Sign up for Netflix from £5.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.
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