BBC's Moonflower Murders grips viewers with Lesley Manville's return

Saturday night saw BBC viewers tuning in for the premiere of Moonflower Murders, the much-anticipated sequel to Magpie Murders.

Fans were delighted as Lesley Manville reprised her role as detective Susan Ryeland on Saturday evening. However, her life has taken a different turn since viewers last saw her.

No longer an editor, she's now managing a quaint hotel in Crete, though it's evident that Susan isn't entirely content.

The new series begins with a wedding set in the picturesque English countryside before we catch up with Susan's new life. The celebrations are abruptly interrupted when a housekeeper, hands smeared with blood, disrupts the speeches.

The shocking revelation of a murder sets the tone, and the narrative fast-forwards eight years to depict Susan's far-from-tranquil existence, reports .

She receives a visit from the parents of the bride featured at the start of the episode, who disclose their daughter's disappearance.

Their daughter had read a murder mystery loosely based on the crime committed on her wedding day. Convinced that the wrong person was apprehended after noticing something peculiar in the book, she disappears.

Given that Susan edited the novel, the parents believe she might be able to identify the same clue Cecily found in the book, leading them to her whereabouts and her abductor.

This premise results in the show oscillating between scenes from the book unfolding in Susan's mind and her real-life attempts to unravel the mystery.

As the drama unfolded, fans flocked to to heap praise for actress Lesley Manville.

One viewer exclaimed: "Anything Lesley Manville is in does be absolutely brilliant the woman is a genius."

Another chimed in: "I really like Lesley Manville, she's always different in the things I've seen her in. Loved her in Mum."

A third fan remarked: "Lesley Manville always looks so good."

"Loved #MagpieMurders tbf, any script Lesley Manville @TeamLManville chooses is good and always enhanced by her," another fan tweeted.

Someone else commented: "The moment I saw starring Leslie Manville and Daniel Mays l knew I would enjoy it. Two incredible character actors. A crime series done the good old fashioned way and all the better for it."

Responding to a tweet, another said: "Yeah I've seen #LesleyManville in about 8 different things the last year or so and she's been fabulously different in them all #MoonflowerMurders".

Adapted from Anthony Horowitz's novel, the series has generated excitement, with Horowitz himself commenting: "I've been watching the filming of Moonflower Murders with joy.

"We're back with the same cast, including Lesley Manville, Tim McMullan and Danny Mays but this time we've got a whole new box of tricks to present as literary editor Susan Ryeland untangles another book within a book and another series of unfathomable murders. I can't wait to show it to our audience."

The teaser for the upcoming episode reveals a gripping plot: "Susan re-reads Atticus Pund Takes the Case, and recalls what inspired Alan Conway to write it - the moment he discovered that Frank Parris had been murdered in the very same Suffolk hotel from which Cecily Treherne has gone missing".

Moonflower Murders is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.