The Light in the Hall returns to Channel 4 with gripping new series set in Welsh village

Devotees of compelling crime dramas have cause for excitement, as The Light in the Hall is poised to return to screens later this month. The programme first gripped viewers three years ago during its Channel 4 broadcast, though it initially debuted in Welsh on S4C in 2022 before reaching English-speaking audiences. The critically praised opening series, which rapidly became essential viewing, featured BAFTA-winning performer Joanna Scanlan as a mother tormented by her daughter's vanishing nearly two decades prior. Resolute in discovering the truth, she launches an emotionally charged quest for answers that have eluded her for 18 years.

The forthcoming series transports audiences back to the fictional Welsh community of Llanemlyn, where a new enigma starts to emerge. The narrative follows a journalist probing a 1995 bombing that shook the town, who becomes entangled in an intricate web of lies, concealed realities and secrets kept for years, reports the Mirror. Creator Regina Moriarty has returned to helm the production, while the ensemble has been strengthened by several distinguished newcomers, including Mark Lewis Jones, recognised for his performance in Stella, and Robert Glenister, who lately appeared in Sherwood. Siân Reese-Williams, formerly of Emmerdale and Wolf, portrays Caryl Huws, alongside Nia Roberts, whose credits include Keeping Faith and Steeltown Murders.

The second series sees Caryl return, having retrained and now forging a career in journalism. In pursuit of a gripping story, she grows increasingly fascinated by the death of Llyr Owen, who perished in a reservoir explosion in 1995. As Caryl probes deeper into the decades-old case, the investigation assumes fresh significance when Llyr's cousin, Rhys, returns to the town following 30 years imprisonment for the murder. The synopsis for the drama states: "Told across two timelines, the story begins in 1995, when activist Llyr Owen dies in a bombing and his cousin Rhys is jailed for the crime.

Thirty years later, Rhys returns home to a community once again divided by protest. As trainee journalist Caryl becomes drawn into the story, her investigation begins to unravel hidden truths, exposing secrets that have shaped the town for decades in a gripping drama of protest, guilt and generational reckoning." The Light in the Hall: Still Waters airs Tuesday 16 June at 9pm on Channel 4