The Crow Girl: Inside the new Paramount+ series based on the bestselling novel by Erik Axl Sund
By Helen Fear | Mon Jan 13 2025The Crow Girl is a brand new psychological thriller coming to Paramount+, which is based on the bestselling novel of the same name, and has a start date very soon.
The chilling storyline follows DCI Jeanette Kilburn, who is called to investigate when the bodies of unidentified young men start to show up - beaten and full of the anaesthetic Lidocaine.
DCI Kilburn enlists the help of psychotherapist Dr Sophia Craven to hunt the killer. And the investigation subsequently takes them down a dangerous path of historical abuse, murder and dark secrets...
With a gripping plot, and great cast, The Crow Girl is one of the best thrillers to watch in January 2025. Here's everything you need to know, including cast, start date, link to book, and episode details.
What's The Crow Girl about?
The upcoming Paramount+ series is described as a "nail-biting, twisted and contemporary psychological thriller" from the team behind Marcella.
It follows events after the murdered body of a teenage boy is found discarded in plain sight. Then, several other unidentified young men start to show up dead, all of them beaten and full of the anaesthetic lidocaine.
The Crow Girl follows DCI Jeanette Kilburn and her partner DI Lou Stanley as they hunt for the Bristol killer.
Jeanette enlists the help of the prime suspect's psychotherapist, Dr Sophia Craven, who "offers a troubling perspective on the case".
The synopsis says: "With the killer inching ever closer to home, Jeanette and the team are in a race against time to untangle the web of secrets to solve this mystery."
The synopsis continues: "The investigation takes them into a dangerous world of historic abuse and murder. Together, they uncover a chain of shocking events that have gone overlooked for decades, as well as evidence of police corruption."
We're also told that, as the body count rises and the two women are dragged into the depths of the murders, an intimacy starts to form between them... And so begins a complex, twisted love story. All the while, the killer is on the loose.
How many episodes is The Crow Girl?
Series 1 of The Crown Girl is six episodes long.
Each episode is 60 minutes.
How can I watch The Crow Girl? When's the start date?
The Crow Girl drops as a box set on Thursday, January 16, 2025.
Paramount+ is available as an add-on channel on Prime Video. You have to already have an Amazon Prime Video membership, and you can then pay extra each month to get access to all of Paramount+'s content.
You can stream the Paramount+ channel on Prime Video, and you have the option to stream on paramountplus.com and the Paramount+ app once you've verified your account.
You can also get Paramount+ at no extra cost if you are an existing Sky TV customer with a Sky Cinema subscription.
Sky's streaming service NOW also has a Sky Cinema membership (at the cost of £9.99 per month).
For those of you who don't have a Paramount+ subscription, series often land on Channel 5 afterwards. This was the case with The Serial Killer's Wife, The Burning Girls, and The Ex-Wife.
Who is in the cast of The Crow Girl?
The cast of The Crow Girl is pretty impressive to be honest - with some seriously talented UK actors leading the show.
Katherine Kelly portrays "sophisticated and poised" psychotherapist Sophia Craven in the cast of The Crow Girl on Paramount+. Of course, TV fans will know the popular actress from Coronation Street, Innocent, and the recent Mr Bates vs The Post Office.
She said: "I'm delighted to get started on this absorbing story filming in beautiful Bristol. The book is thrilling and Milly Thomas' scripts are even better. I am excited to start unpicking the character of Sophia as events in the series unfold."
Eve Myles stars as DCI Jeanette Kilburn, who must investigate the horrifying murders. Eve is famous for Keeping Faith, Torchwood, and the recent Apple TV+ series Hijack.
The Welsh actress added: "Jeanette is such a compelling character. As soon as I read the script, I knew I wanted to explore her story in more detail. It's been a really terrific first few weeks on set working alongside a team of such incredibly talented people!"
Scottish actor Dougray Scott, star of Irvine Welsh's Crime and BBC One's Vigil, portrays DI Lou Stanley, Jeanette's partner.
Black Mirror actress Clara Rugaard will play Victoria Burkeman, and Small Axe's Elliot Edusah portrays diligent rookie DC Mike Dilliston. Lou takes him under his wing during his first murder investigation.
Meanwhile, relative newcomer Chloé Sweetlove plays Madeleine Burkeman, and former Corrie star Lee Boardman – aka Jez Quigley – stars as David White.
Doctor Foster's Victoria Hamilton portrays Superintendent Verity Pound. She's also joined the cast of Unforgotten series 6.
The cast for the series also includes Clara Rugaard as Victoria Burkeman, Raphael Sowole as Alex Kilburn, Michael Lumsden as Ben Burkeman, Trevor White as Carl Lowry, and Roger Jean Nsengiyumva as Amar.
Is it based on a book?
The Crow Girl on Paramount+ is based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Erik Axl Sund.
It's adapted from the trilogy of novels by Erik Axl Sund – the pen name of Swedish author duo Jerker Eriksson, and Håkan Axlander Sundquist.
Three novels – The Crow Girl, The Hunger Fire and The Pythia’s Instructions – form the internationally best-selling trilogy about Victoria Bergman. They were eventually merged into a single volume called The Crow Girl.
The Crow Girl is described as a fast-paced, page-turning psychological thriller. The description of the book reads: "With a serial killer on the loose, Detective Kihlberg must delve into a nightmare world of hidden lives, lost identities and secret rituals… This is the world of the Crow Girl.
"It starts with just one body – the hands bound, the skin covered in marks. Detective Superintendent Jeanette Kihlberg is determined to find out who is responsible, despite opposition from her superiors. When two more bodies are discovered, it becomes clear that she is hunting a serial killer.
"With her career on the line, Kihlberg turns to psychotherapist Sofia Zetterlund. Together, they expose a chain of shocking events that began decades ago – but will it lead them to the murderer before someone else dies?"
Reviewers called it "compelling", and with "a fantastic twist". The Observer said: "The pace of its revelations is relentless."
Writer Milly Thomas created the series for screen, penning four of the six episodes.
Where is the series filmed?
Filming on the series kicked off in Bristol in February and March 2024.
Crews were seen filming in the former Bank of England building on Wine Street. Eagle-eyed Bristolians also saw filming for the show taking place in Queen Square.
Cast and crew were also seen filming in The Cocktail Club on Corn Street, Tailor's Court off of Broad Street, and behind The Mall at Cribbs Causeway.
