How The Missing spin-off Baptiste will aim to duplicate show’s success with great twists and complex characters
The character played by Tcheky Karyo is getting his very own show, eight-part thriller Baptiste — here's how it compares with The Missing
CRAGGY, tormented and, above all, French – Detective Julien Baptiste won viewers' hearts during two series of BBC1’s The Missing.
Now the character played by Tcheky Karyo in 2014 and 2016 is getting his very own show. Eight-part thriller Baptiste begins on February 17 at 9pm. Tcheky is again enjoying being hailed a sex symbol, at 65.
He said: “I didn’t expect it, but it’s flattering. This has made me feel young again.”
Here’s how the new show compares with The Missing.
The central character
DETECTIVE Julien Baptiste led the case when a British boy went missing while on holiday in France in the original 2014 series of The Missing, starring James Nesbitt and Frances O’Connor as the lad’s parents.
He was back in the 2016 follow-up, this time trying to solve the case of a girl who vanished in Germany, with parents David Morrissey and Keeley Hawes. In both series, it became clear the real star was the French actor previously unknown to British viewers.
Parisien Tcheky Karyo recalled: “Everbody said the character was really loved by the audience. I felt England was taking me into a big embrace.”
The previous series saw Tcheky’s character struggle with his own daughter’s drug addiction, and with a brain tumour.
The new series sees him fight back from his health battle to investigate a case brought to him by an ex-girlfriend.
The leading lady
THE Missing starred Frances O’Connor in series one and Bodyguard star Keeley Hawes in series two.
They both played mums searching for their lost children.
Baptiste also boasts a beautiful leading lady, Call The Midwife actress Jessica Raine.
But she plays a very different character here. Genevieve works for Europol and is hunting a criminal Eastern European gang.
Jessica, who found out she was pregnant as filming began, said: “She’s pretty ruthless and rubs people up the wrong way. She was so focused to the point of psychotic.”
The desperate man
THE Night Manager star Tom Hollander knows a thing or two about making a hit drama.
In Baptiste, he plays an uncle hunting for his niece, and is just as desperate for answers as the fathers played by James Nesbitt and David Morrissey in the previous series.
But viewers will notice something odd about his character Edward, and Tom admitted: “He seems complex, to say the very least.”
Tom was thrilled to get the role, explaining: “I’d auditioned for The Missing and been rejected. I had a bit of an axe to grind about that.”
Gore and violence
BAPTISTE features a gory scene in which a victim is suffocated — then has their head cut off with a chainsaw.
It’s a shocking moment that sets the tone for the rest of the drama.
But it is also reminiscent of some of the bloodier scenes filmed in The Missing.
In the first series, James Nesbitt’s character Tony Hughes pulverised the skull of a paedophile he suspects of abducting his son.
Co-writer Jack Williams said he never held back.
He said: “Editorially, the BBC were amazing and never once said, ‘You can’t do this!’
“In fact, we were told to delve into things more fully.”
The plot
IN Baptiste, the woman everyone is searching for is Natalie, who has turned to prostitution to fund her drugs habit.
By the end of the first episode, it is obvious the disappearance is even more complicated than it first seems.
The story is set in the murky world of Amsterdam’s red light district.
Writers took the disappearance theme and added a whole new dimension.
The twist
TWISTS were a big part of The Missing — and Tom Hollander says that viewers can expect a great one this time.
The actor revealed: “There is certainly a twist at the end of the first episode.”
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Like The Missing, Baptiste is written by brothers Harry and Jack Williams.
Jack said: “We want to elevate storytelling to something that’s compulsive and endlessly surprising.”
must watch
WHAT? Eat Well for Less? BBC1, 8pm.
WHY? In the final episode of the series, Gregg Wallace and Chris Bavin encourage a couple with two businesses to take time to enjoy healthy meals together.