*** MEDIA ALERT ***

HIT DETECTIVE DRAMA, "SHETLAND," RETURNS DECEMBER 11 FOR SEASON NINE ON BRITBOX

· Shetland S9 will premiere December 11 on BritBox, with episodes airing weekly until the finale on January 15.

· The new season of the acclaimed murder-mystery drama sees Ashley Jensen and Alison O'Donnell reprise their roles as Detectives Ruth Calder and Alison 'Tosh' McIntosh.

· A double missing person's case blurs the lines between the personal and the professional, as Calder and Tosh are drawn into a labyrinthine investigation. When Tosh's friend, Annie Bett, goes missing she suspects something is seriously wrong. Ruth Calder - now living in Shetland - has no time to recover from a life-threatening ordeal of her own, as together they set out in search of Annie and her young son, Noah. They discover accountant Annie is estranged from her husband, Ian, and has been staying with mussel farmer John Harris and his two sons, Patrick and Fergus. Worryingly, there's no sign of Annie there either.

· Calder follows Tosh's instincts and looks for Annie at the home she shared with Ian. There, they discover Professor Euan Rossi who claims to have been Annie's Oxford University tutor many years ago. Suspicions are stirred when Tosh and Calder learn Rossi traveled all the way to Shetland after Annie left him a distressed voicemail the night she vanished. Calder can't shake the feeling there's more to Rossi than meets the eye.

· Meanwhile, at the station, Calder delves deeper into another case involving a deadly argument between two brothers. The missing persons investigation draws Tosh and Calder into a web of lies and when a bloodied person turns up at a remote garage, nothing can prepare the team for what lies ahead.

· Calder is played by Ashley Jensen, Tosh by Alison O'Donnell, Annie Bett by Sarah MacGillivray, Noah Bett by Jacob Ferguson, Ian Bett by Robert Jack, John Harris by Vincent Regan, Patrick Harris by Ross Anderson, Fergus Harris by Macleod Stephen, Euan Rossi by Ian Hart. Also starring Steven Robertson, Lewis Howden, Anne Kidd, Angus Miller, Steven Miller, Leeroy Boone, Conor McCarry, Eubha Akilade, Stuart Campbell, Nalini Chetty, Richard Thomson, Tibu Fortes, Andrew John Tait, Tara Lee, Jimmy Yuill, Lesley Hart and Gemma McElhinney.

· Shetland season nine is written by lead writers Paul Logue and Denise Paul. Season nine is produced by Louise V Say (Dracula, Les Miserables) and directed by Andrew Cumming (Out of Darkness) and Ruth Paxton (A Banquet). Executive producers are Gaynor Holmes for the BBC, Kate Bartlett, Denise Paul and Paul Logue for Silverprint Pictures.

· Previous seasons of Shetland are available to stream now on BritBox.

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