Murder mysteries and the great outdoors make a winning combination, and Annika is no exception. With season one currently on BBC iPlayer and season two about to land on Alibi, it seems like the perfect time to investigate the eye-catching locations that appear in the series. Where are those moody mountains and that rugged cliff-face? Which stretch of water is DI Annika dashing across there? And who or what is really based at the Maritime Homicide Unit's jaw-dropping waterside office? With our detective cap on, we set out to discover the truth behind the fiction...
Discover where other BBC series have been filmed and how to visit with our guides to Beyond Paradise, Happy Valley and Wild Isles filming locations. Also check out what's coming up next on Countryfile and see where the team will be visiting.
Where is Annika filmed?
Annika roams a far number of places, as Nicola Walker's crime-solving detective DI Annika Strandhed and her team solve murders washed up in Scotland's waterways. Filming on series one principally took place on the Clyde in Glasgow, as well as Loch Lomond, Greenock, Dumbarton and Loch Katrine. Series two is yet to air, but is set to showcase some other magnificent locations, including Edinburgh.
Beacon Arts Centre, Greenock
Annika and her team of detectives form the newly formed – and surely niche – Maritime Homicide Unit. The MHU headquarters are based in a gleaming waterside office that in real life operates as a riverside arts centre. The Beacon Arts Centre in Greenock has two performance spaces, a bar and rehearsal rooms. Which is probably more relaxing for all involved. A former fishing community which became a major port in the 18th century, Greenock lies on the south bank of the Clyde and is famous as the birthplace of engineer James Watt, who was also skilled at solving conundrums.
As Walker plays her, Annika is both sharp and scatty, regularly talking to the camera to deplore her own parenting fails, make bad jokes or draw the audience's awareness of the parallels of the case at hand to a Norwegian legend or work of classic literature, such as Moby Dick and Twelfth Night.
Loch Lomond
Loch Lomond stars as the home of our heroine, who has moved there with her resentful and wayward 15-year-old daughter, Morgan. From her Loch Lomond base, Annika has to navigate both Scotland's murky waterways and the trials of solo mothering (not to mention a strong attraction to her daughter's therapist Jake, played by Paul McGann). Loch Lomond is the largest lake in Great Britain by surface area – note we don't say in the UK, for which Lough Neagh in Northern Ireland holds the title. Records aside, Loch Lomond is a spectacular freshwater loch dotted with islands and surrounded by hills, and viewed as one of the natural wonders of Britain. It lies at the heart of the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park.
Rhu Marina, Helensburgh
In episode one, Annika has to solve the murder of the owner of a whale-spotting boat, who has been found with a harpoon through the head. Cue the Moby Dick chat to camera, and a piercing pun, as well as some interviews in the marina (played by Helensburgh's Rhu Marina) as Annika tries to unravel the case.
Dumbarton Castle, Dumbartonshire
Early in episode two, we watch a father and daughter due tackle a steep rockface. Any longstanding viewer of detective dramas can't help but have a strong suspicion of how this risky climbing expedition is going to end. The climb in question was filmed at Dumbarton Rock, a jutting volcanic plug of basalt towering to 73 metres high, at the top of which sits the medieval stronghold of Dumbarton Castle. This stronghold is so dramatic that it made our list of Britain's most impressive castles.
Clyde Clipper from Greenock to Bute
Annika's serially unimpressed colleague Tyrone is determined to prove himself a top-tier detective, while Annika takes a somewhat eclectic approach to detection, which leads to an entertaining tension between the two. In episode two, the pair must unravel the mystery of a man's body found drifting on a boat, with Norse-rune-inscribed stones scattered around his body. There's nothing for it but to head to the Isle of Bute on the Clyde Clipper catamaran.
Firth of Clyde
The series is enhanced by some beautiful shots of boats moving across great swathes of water, particularly the Firth of Clyde. Just look at that view. The Firth of Clyde - where the River Firth opens to the sea, on the west coast of Scotland – has the deepest coastal waters in the British Isles. The Isles of Arran and Bute lie within the Firth of Clyde, while the Kintyre peninsula provides a buffer between the Firth and the Atlantic Ocean.
Loch Katrine
In series one, episode three, the body of a scientist is found in Loch Katrine, and the detectives must investigate the strange shenanigans of a company called Natural Water. A 13km-long freshwater loch in the Trossachs, Loch Katrine was the inspiration for Sir Walter Raleigh's The Lady of the Lake - but literary work that the murder brings to Annika's mind is Ibsen's The Enemy of the People.
To put this brutal slaying behind you, why not enjoy a tranquil adventure along the eastern shoreline of Loch Katrine on this relaxed five-mile walk?
Necropolis, Glasgow
In the final episode of series one, worried Michael, played by Jamie Sives, races through Glasgow Necropolis, a grand, 37-acre Victorian cemetery. The Necropolis sits on a low, prominent hill east of Glasgow cemetery, and makes a fitting location for a series that puts death front and centre.
Annika series one is available on BBC iPlayer. Annika series 2 starts on 9 August on Alibi.
