A Good Girl's Guide to Murder is a British mystery thriller television series based on the 2019 novel by Holly Jackson, adapted by Poppy Cogan, directed by Dolly Wells, and developed by Moonage Pictures and the German public broadcaster ZDFneo for BBC Three. The series, consisting of six episodes, covers events from the first book, and premiered on 1 July 2024 on BBC iPlayer in the United Kingdom, followed by its terrestrial premiere on BBC Three on 10 July. It was released internationally on Netflix on 1 August 2024.
The second series was released on 27 May 2026. A third and final series is set to premiere in 2027.
Contents
Premise
Teenage sleuth Pippa "Pip" Fitz-Amobi (Emma Myers) is not satisfied with the police's handling of cases in her small English town, Little Kilton, and investigates, while producing her EPQ and podcast on it.
The first season revolves around the killing of Andie Bell, a student at Pippa "Pip" Fitz- Amobi's school. She was assumed to have been murdered by her boyfriend, Sal Singh, who seemingly committed suicide shortly after. Pip investigates further to clear Sal's name and gets closer to his brother, Ravi (Zain Iqbal), whose family was ostracized after Sal was accused of killing Andie.
The second season revolves around the disappearance of Pip's best friend Connor's brother, Jamie. Connor pleads with Pip to help in the search for Jamie, who was last seen at a memorial for Sal and Andie, a few days before he is to appear as a witness in court. Pip investigates and helps spread awareness about Jamie's disappearance through episodes of her podcast.
Cast and characters
Main
Emma Myers as Pippa "Pip" Fitz-Amobi
Kitty Anderson as young Pip
Zain Iqbal as Ravi Singh, Sal's younger brother
Asha Banks as Cara Ward, Pip's best friend
Raiko Gohara as Zach Chen (season 1)
Jude Morgan-Collie as Connor Reynolds
Yali Topol Margalith as Lauren Gibson
Yasmin Al-Khudhairi as Naomi Ward (season 1; guest season 2)
Henry Ashton as Max Hastings
Carla Woodcock as Becca Bell
Mathew Baynton as Elliot Ward, Cara and Naomi's father (season 1)
Gary Beadle as Victor Amobi, Pip's stepfather
Anna Maxwell Martin as Leanne Amobi, Pip's mother
Peter Sullivan as Christopher Epps (season 2)
Recurring
India Lillie Davies as Andie Bell, Sal's girlfriend who was assumed to have been killed by him
Rahul Pattni as Sal Singh, Ravi's older brother
Jackson Bews as Dan Da Silva, a police officer and Nat's brother
Kamari Loyd as Josh Amobi, Pip's younger brother
Matthew Chambers as Jason Bell, Andie's father
Annabel Mullion as Rosie Hastings
Adam Astill as Toby Hastings
Andy McLeod as DI Hawkins
Jessica Webber as Nat Da Silva, a friend of Andie's
Orla Hill as Ruby Foxcroft
Thomas Gray as Howie Bowers, a local drug dealer
Matthew Khan as Dylan (season 1)
Oliver Wickham as Jesse Walker (season 1)
Georgia Lock as Isla Jordan (season 1)
Eden Hambelton Davies as Jamie Reynolds, Connor's brother (season 2)
Lu Corfield as Joanna Reynolds (season 2)
Jack Rowan as Charlie Green (season 2)
Anna Brindle as Flora Green (season 2)
Freddie England as Robin Hastings, Max's cousin (season 2)
Guest
Georgia Arron as Emma Hutton (season 1)
Ephraim O.P. Sampson as Jake Lawrence (season 1)
Episodes
Production
In September 2022, the project was announced as a BBC Three television adaptation of the Holly Jackson novel A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, produced by Moonage Pictures. Dolly Wells is a director on the project from a script by Poppy Cogan, alongside Zia Ahmed, Ajoke Ibironke, and Ruby Thomas. It is produced by Florence Walker, and executive producers include Matthew Read, Matthew Bouch and Frith Tiplady for Moonage Pictures, and Lucy Richer and Danielle Scott-Haughton for the BBC, along with Wells, Holly Jackson, and Cogan.
Despite the executive producer Frith Tiplady stressing that the first series has a real end, it was renewed for a second series on 20 November 2024, which adapts the second book, Good Girl, Bad Blood. Jackson and Cogan returned to write the screenplay while Myers and Iqbal reprised their respective roles. In June 2026, a third and final series was confirmed to have already been filmed, which will adapt the third book, As Good As Dead.
Casting
In June 2023, production started with Emma Myers and Zain Iqbal cast into the lead roles of Pip and Ravi.
Filming
Filming took place around Bristol and Somerset. Locations include the Redcliffe Caves, the Avon Valley Railway car park, Redland, Redmaids' High School, Westbury-on-Trym, and Axbridge. Filming for the second series took place in the final week of April 2025 in Axbridge, Somerset.
Release
A Good Girl's Guide to Murder premiered on 1 July 2024 on BBC iPlayer in the United Kingdom and in Ireland, Stan in Australia, and ThreeNow in New Zealand. A terrestrial broadcast on BBC Three began on 10 July 2024, with two episodes being broadcast per week. The series was released in Germany on 30 August 2024 on the ZDFmediathek service, while ZDFneo broadcast two episodes per week beginning from 8 September 2024. The series was released on Netflix on 1 August 2024.
The second series was released on BBC iPlayer and ZDFmediathek on 27 May 2026. The third and final series is set to be released in 2027.
Reception
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 83% of 41 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.4/10. The website's consensus reads: "A frothy series that carries off the classic murder mystery with a light touch, A Good Girl's Guide to Murder's checks all the boxes for a sweetly satisfying binge." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 69 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.
For the second series, 92% of 13 critics' reviews on Rotten Tomatoes are positive, with an average rating of 7.5/10. The website's consensus reads: "A Good Girl's Guide to Murder returns for a darker, more narratively rich season two, weaving a new web of intrigue that Emma Myers embraces with aplomb."