MESSIAH 2 - VENGEANCE IS MINE is the gripping and challenging follow-up to the hugely successful psychological thriller MESSIAH, again co-starring Neil Dudgeon, Frances Grey, Michelle Forbes, Art Malik and Gillian Taylforth.

Ken Stott returns as DCI Red Metcalfe, a man totally dedicated to putting killers behind bars. But, when his own estranged brother is found knifed in the hustle and bustle of Leadenhall Market, the hunt for justice gets personal.

There are fifteen horrific deaths in MESSIAH 2 - VENGEANCE IS MINE - but of those it is the four murders in the past that set off a chain of terrifying killings that pose a seemingly impenetrable problem for Red Metcalfe and his team.

Four convicted men are safely behind bars for those murders. Yet someone, somewhere believes they are innocent. Which can only mean that the real murderers are still out there and justice - brutal, bloody and painstakingly planned - is being meted out by a sadistic serial killer.

Could the police have made mistakes that resulted in the wrong men being imprisoned? Or has there been a cover-up to hide the shocking truth - that evidence has been withheld, or tampered with to obtain unsafe convictions?

The horrifying truth dawns as the body count rises. The killer is out for revenge - and none of the investigating teams, or their nearest and dearest, is safe…

Part One
Eric Metcalfe - knifed in the chest in crowded Leadenhall Market.
Russ Collier - bound, gagged and buried alive. His hand is wrapped in cheesewire.
Jenny Collier - drugged and trussed up in a laundry bag. A ball of cheese wire in her hand.
Philip Stansfield - Suspended over a railway line and electrocuted. A cut-throat razor in his hand.
Mandy MacIntyre - Tied to a swing and garrotted with cheese wire.

… a terrifying pattern begins to emerge. Red realises that his team is in danger as the killer continues to exact a grisly and horrific penalty for the injustices of the past.

Part Two
The killer has struck right at the heart of the police investigation. Duncan (Neil Dudgeon) is terrified for the safety of his young son, while even Red's boss DCS Emerson (Art Malik) has to face the possibility that the past could prove fatal to his family. Always one step ahead, the killer continues on a bloody trail of retribution. Who will be next ?…

MESSIAH 2 - VENGEANCE IS MINE

Filmed on location in London and the south-east, MESSIAH 2 - VENGEANCE IS MINE once more co-stars American actress Michelle Forbes as Red's profoundly deaf wife Susan, with Frances Grey as newly-confident Kate Beauchamp and Gillian Taylforth as DI Warren's estranged wife Helen.

Guest stars include Alun Armstrong as DCI Charlie MacIntyre, Angela Bruce as forensic pathologist Dr Dugdale, Shaun Dingwall as defence lawyer Daniel Jameson, Vincent Regan as DI David Wilby and Keira Malik - daughter of Art - playing Isabel Emerson.

MESSIAH 2- VENGEANCE IS MINE is written by Lizzie Mickery from a story by Lizzie Mickery and Robert Cooper and the characters originally created in Boris Starling's best-selling novel MESSIAH.

"We didn't have a novel to work from this time," she explains. "So we had to create the entire story, which is quite a complex thing to do. But we had such wonderful lead actors who contributed a lot in the making of these characters.

"Knowing that we've got Ken Stott, Neil Dudgeon, Frances Grey and Art Malik, you can create a character round them, building on what they did the last time round."

Executive producer Robert Cooper says: "We wanted to exercise people's brains as well as scaring them half to death!"

"We wanted to give the audience something very different from MESSIAH 1, but which retained its epic terror. So we've created a story with more complexity, without sacrificing the MESSIAH sense of scale … We wanted it to be informed by a larger idea."

Chris Ottinger, Senior Vice President, Paramount International Television adds:
"MESSIAH 2 is the continuation of a great working relationship between BBC Northern Ireland and Paramount. The success of the partnership has delivered an exciting new product
for international and US audiences, and has inspired plans for future co-projects."

MESSIAH 2 - VENGEANCE IS MINE is directed by David Richards and the executive producers are Robert Cooper and Kate Triggs. It is a BBC Northern Ireland and Paramount International Television Production in association with Vengeance Films.