Some viewers are already gripped. What did you think of it?
While RTÉ are kicking off their broadcast of Dublin Murders on Wednesday night with a back-to-back screening of the first two episodes, BBC aired the first episode of the eagerly-anticipated thriller on Monday night.
Since being announced, the eight-part adaptation of Tana French's Dublin Murder Squad novels, In the Woods and The Likeness, has been one of the most anticipated shows of 2019.
The murder mystery is set in the early years of the new millennium, during the height of Ireland’s Celtic Tiger financial boom. The story focuses on two seemingly unrelated murder investigations, led by ambitious and charismatic detectives Rob Reilly (Killian Scott) and Cassie Maddox (Sarah Green).
The victims - a young talented ballerina who is found dead on an ancient stone altar and a vivacious, free-spirited woman who is found stabbed in a roofless famine cottage - are seemingly unrelated, but as viewers will discover, they're knitted together by powerful shared themes.
When JOE caught up with Killian Scott and Sarah Greene, the duo stressed that "
everyone has a secret and a lie in this show," a point that was evident right from the start.
Much of the drama in the opening episode took place in a small council estate in the town of Knocknaree, nearby to where a child murder has taken place. The same community was rocked by a missing child case and murder in the 1980s. Detectives Reilly and Maddox suspect that the cases are linked.
A large part of why the show has drawn such interest is because the setting is so close to home and numerous viewers remarked on just how quickly the show has gotten under their skin.
However, there were other aspects of the opening episode that audiences were drawn to...
Spoilers are coming.
https://twitter.com/NerdyGirlShay/status/1183842071838375943
https://twitter.com/EastieOaks/status/1183840041921077251
https://twitter.com/elliot_gonzalez/status/1183669783646093312
https://twitter.com/angelathompson5/status/1183849353921925120
https://twitter.com/RobbieWhelan7/status/1183854060841115649
https://twitter.com/sineadmariec/status/1183853983544348672
https://twitter.com/MartinAtPeace/status/1183900506273517571
Some viewers, meanwhile, couldn't help but remember some of the roles that the cast of Dublin Murders have played in the past...
https://twitter.com/Simon_Murdoch/status/1183840860091420674
https://twitter.com/DearStefania/status/1183947700233834496
https://twitter.com/Caolanmcaree/status/1183838638838337538
Given that the books are set in Dublin, audiences had a keen eye on the locations used in the opening episode with Bray, Belfast and Tullymore Forest all being very visible.
However, right from the off, people could only talk about that petrol station.
https://twitter.com/emmamcc_/status/1183837307960528896
We learned that a 13-year-old girl named Katie died horrifically after her attacker struck her in the back of the head and suffocated her with a plastic bag. Katie's body was then placed on an ancient stone altar.
However, there was something a little bit off about Katie's family when they learned the horrific news.
https://twitter.com/ravenwolf68/status/1183842212775202816
https://twitter.com/FrancisBoylan/status/1183842648018305025
https://twitter.com/rick2099/status/1183842505038675971
As for the revelation that Detective Rob Reilly was in fact Adam - the boy that survived the series of murders in the '80s - it surprised some people, while others saw it coming.
https://twitter.com/elliot_gonzalez/status/1183849079396356097
https://twitter.com/NerdyGirlShay/status/1183850242732711936
https://twitter.com/randomsunrises/status/1183849901274345477
All in all, a decent start for Dublin Murders with the second episode airing tonight on BBC1.
RTÉ are also showing the first two episodes as a back-to-back feature on Wednesday night.
