Freddy Lane is one of the most complex and fascinating fictional creations of recent years. Played by Hermione Corfield, she was working as a sex-industry “premium girl” under the name Zara Thustra when a date went badly wrong – only for Baba (Dipo Ola) to step in and save her. Freddy proved she was no damsel in distress as she took charge of first revenge and then the pair’s survival, leading the police on a merry dance for most of the first series of We Hunt Together.

And now Freddy is back in the second series, still under suspicion, and still one step ahead of the law in the form of DI Jackson Mendy (Babou Ceesay) and DS Lola Franks (Eve Myles) – who find themselves investigating a new case that may have links to the mysterious Freddy.

Here’s what you need to know about the second series of a drama that’s never less than gripping.

What happened at the end of the first series?

It didn’t go well for Baba, let’s put it that way – but Freddy, once again displaying her ingenuity and survival instinct, managed to escape the clutches of the police. “Although she’s mildly regretful at Baba’s death, she feels like she’s reborn and goes out into the world with this new feeling of power that he has given her,” says the show’s creator and writer Gaby Hull.

As the series ended, DS Franks discovered a piece of evidence that suggested Freddy could still face the music – but series two picks up ten months after the events of that explosive finale, and it quickly becomes obvious that Freddy remains at large.

What’s Freddy doing now, then?

She’s pretty much hiding in plain sight from the police. “Not only has she got away with the crimes from series one, she’s also not retreating to a quiet corner of the Earth,” says Corfield. “She’s shouting about the fact that she got away with it and she’s writing books about herself… She is very much shouting from the rooftops and that’s what drives Lola to continue to want to prove that she is guilty.”

That’s not to say she’s happy or contented. “Freddy hasn’t dealt well with losing Baba – she doesn’t really know what to do with herself,” Corfield explains. “He filled a void in her that can’t be filled easily. As much as she was a terrible thing for Baba, and she destroyed his life, for her Baba was this positive force that she needed. Showing that she does feel loss is a nice thing. It shows another side of Freddy.”

How are the detectives dealing with Freddy’s continuing freedom?

It’s Franks and Mendy’s differences that make them such a compelling and effective pair, and true to form, they cope in very different ways. Myles says Franks is “very frustrated” with Freddy’s escape and by the injustice of Baba being blamed for everything. And although there’s a new case to investigate, it clearly isn’t going to help her let the old one go. “We’re dropped right into something very sinister, and we quickly discover that there may be a connection to Freddy, which brings up all of the thoughts Lola had from series one,” Myles says.

Mendy, on the other hand, is more concerned with rebuilding his relationship with his wife Gill (Sharlene Whyte) after her infidelity than with dwelling on the old case. “Jackson isn’t as emotionally fraught about it as Lola is,” says Ceesay, who’s also had success playing an entirely different kind of detective in Sky Max’s Wolfe. “I don’t think he buys into the idea of punishment in the way that Lola does.”

What can we look forward to in series 2?

A new direction for We Hunt Together. “We always knew who the killers were in series one, so it was a different experience of a police thriller,” says Hull. “Then in series two, I wanted to have a bit more fun with a whodunnit element. So, we have Freddy still at the heart of the story, but this time I wanted to add an anonymous killer in to add more of a horror vibe to the thriller genre. It’s exciting because every character that Freddy meets is essentially a potential suspect.”

As if Freddy wasn’t enough of a chaotic element, other new characters have been added to the cast – all with their own agendas and motives. Shannon McBride (Tamzin Outhwaite, New Tricks) is a social media influencer who’s determined to help bring Freddy to justice – although mainly to further her own career. Then there’s Liam (Colin Morgan, Humans), who’s clearly less concerned with Freddy’s guilt or innocence as he’s ghostwriting her account of the case. However, there are things Freddy doesn’t know about him…

Plus, you know, MURDER! There’s a serial killer on the loose, and that’s where We Hunt Together starts to get weird. The suspect, who wears a latex pigeon mask when committing their crimes, quickly becomes known as the Birdman (though it’s unclear whether the avian motif has any significance) and before long members of the public are having bird-themed parties to celebrate the psychopath. ”It’s celebrated in a similar way to how Freddy is, by certain groups of people,” says Myles. “It’s funny that birds are so celebrated in cinema and TV… Something can look as innocent as a bird, but actually what’s behind it can be more sinister. That’s very much the tone of series two.”

When is Alibi’s We Hunt Together on TV?

We Hunt Together airs on Alibi/HD (CH 126/212) on Thursdays at 9pm, with the first episode screening on 5 May. It is also available for 30 days in Catch Up > Channels > Alibi.