‘We all think we could do it!'

Crime writer Ian Rankin on putting a group of amateur sleuths to the test...

- CAREN CLARK

MURDER ISLAND

NEW TUESDAY / C4 /

9.30PM / EP 1 of 6 / REALITY

Many of us enjoy playing armchair detectives, and now C4 is giving members of the public the chance to put their sleuthing skills to the test in a brand-new game show.

Six-parter Murder Island centres around a fiendishly twisty plot devised by crime writer Ian Rankin, which explores the fallout after a young woman is killed on a Scottish island.

Eight contestants with a penchant for whodunnits must work in pairs to unmask the murderer and potentially win £50,000. But their detective work is overseen by three retired cops and the teams who don’t come up to scratch are eliminated.

Here, Ian, 61, best known for his Rebus novels, tells TV Times more...

Why do we love watching crime shows and playing detective?

We all think we could do it! Everyone who watches TV reckons they know how it’s done and what happens at a murder scene. But in real life, a lot of it isn’t the way it happens in CSI!

What appealed to you about Murder Island?