Season 1
Sarah Lancashire stars as Catherine Cawood, a police sergeant in a small town where drunkards, drug addicts and teenage pregnancies are a way of life. Her world is turned upside down when the man she thinks is responsible for her daughter's death - Tommy Lee Royce - is released from prison.
Meanwhile, quiet middle-class accountant Kevin Weatherill feels underappreciated and underpaid at work. Desperate to give his daughters a decent education, he asks for a pay rise so he can send them to private school.
But when his wealthy boss Nevison refuses, something finally snaps for Kevin and he enlists the help of local drug lord Ashley to kidnap Nevison's daughter and hold her for ransom. Things quickly spiral out of control when Ashley involves Tommy Lee in the plan.
How far will any of them go to get what they really want?
Catherine is the sergeant on duty when flustered and nervous accountant Kevin Weatherill (Steve Pemberton) comes into her West Yorkshire police station to report a crime. He's reticent about the details and Kevin loses his nerve.
The crime he was trying to report was Kevin's own brain-child, a plot to kidnap his boss's daughter and keep enough of the ransom to put his kids through private school.
And now local drug king-pin Ashley Cowgill (Joe Armstrong) has put the plan into action, and Kevin's fantasy has become a grim and dangerous reality. The botched kidnapping of Ann Gallagher (Charlie Murphy) and its fallout unfolds...
Catherine is used to picking up the pieces of everyone else's lives, but the hunt for Ann Gallagher will get right under her skin. Catherine becomes convinced that only by finding Ann alive and bringing her captors to justice can she avenge the death of her daughter.