A mother's dark past fuels the gripping whodunit of her daughter's disappearance in 'The Stolen Girl'

Whodunits are immediately lapped up by viewers. And it attracts more attention when it centres on a missing child à la “Broadchurch”, “Marcella”, “True Detective” and “Alert: Missing Persons Unit”.

Disney+ recently dropped “The Stolen Girl”, a five-part series based on Alex Dahl’s 2020 novel, “Playdate”.

The first episode transforms from calm to chaotic when Elisa Blix (Denise Gough) reluctantly agrees to let her daughter Lucia (Beatrice Cohen) sleep over at her new friend Josephine’s house. 

After briefly meeting the mother, Rebecca Walsh (Holliday Grainger), Eliza, a flight attendant, drops off some of Lucia’s things and makes arrangements to have her lawyer husband, Fred (Jim Sturgess), collect their daughter. 

The couple also share a son, George. 

However, when their attempts to reach Rebecca go unanswered the next day, the couple find themselves dealing with a parent's worst nightmare - a missing child.

Elisa is devastated to learn that the home that Rebecca claimed to own was a short-let holiday home.

It isn’t long before the police launch a manhunt for the missing child while local journalist Selma Desai (Ambika Mod) takes a keen interest in the developing story. 

During the investigation, Elisa learns that Fred had an emotional affair with a woman he met online. But that’s not all. They are in debt as he remortgaged their home. 

This becomes a sticky point for Elisa after they receive a ransom note. But it’s a false lead. 

The unfolding narrative reveals Elisa's crucial role in resolving the case. And Selma leaves no stone unturned in finding out more about her, which includes visiting the religious community where Elisa was raised, interviewing her estranged mother and one of the locals. 

While Elisa uses social media as a way of reaching out to anyone who can assist with information, she is thrown for a loop by Selma’s article, as she prefers to keep her past private. 

Unable to watch her so distraught, Fred threatens Selma’s publication with legal action and gets her pulled by delving any further into Elisa’s life. 

In the interim, Rebecca, who has changed her hair colour, has settled in a remote home in France. She convinces Lucia that she’s her real mother and that her late husband Nicholas, who died in a car accident several years back, was her father. 

To ensure they don’t raise any suspicions in the small town, Rebecca asks Lucia to introduce herself as Lulu-Rose.

Several weeks later, the police don’t have much to go on except video footage of Lucia and the kidnapping vehicle. 

As the news of Lucia’s disappearance spreads far and wide, Rebecca realises that they need to move again for fear of being caught. 

Meanwhile, Elisa, with the help of Selma, realises who the kidnapper is and leaves the city to go save her daughter before it’s too late. 

Overall, this is a story of payback. Perhaps a little on the long-winded and frustrating side as it drags in getting to the nitty gritty, especially where the police are concerned. 

If you fancy yourself as an armchair detective, you will happily binge the series, which includes heavy themes around infidelity, sexual abuse, incest and religion.

As emotions and reactions cloud judgment, the distinction between right and wrong becomes unclear, shaping a sequence of events that ultimately leads to accountability.

• Rating: 3/5 - solid and enjoyable series, though not groundbreaking.

Below are recommendations for similar TV shows:

Broadchurch

A truly compelling series, bolstered by the casting of David Tennant and Olivia Colman. It centres on the murder of a young boy in a small coastal town, which attracts a media frenzy, threatening to tear the community apart.

Alert: Missing Persons Unit

When police officer Nikki Parker's son goes missing, she joins the LAPD's Missing Persons Unit to help other people find their loved ones. She works closely with her ex-husband on cases that hit close to home. Stars Scott Caan and Dania Ramirez.