The Capture Series Three Delivers a Stark Warning About Truth in the Digital Age

Image: BBC Press

By Jon Donnis

The BBC has shared an early glimpse of the third series of The Capture, and the story looks set to push its themes even further. The new image highlights Holliday Grainger as Rachel Carey, a character who has carried the weight of the show's questions about trust, surveillance and manufactured reality. With deepfakes now part of everyday conversation, the series feels even more timely than before, and this chapter digs straight into that unease.

A year has passed since Carey broadcast a live deepfake of a government minister, exposing the covert Correction programme that allowed the intelligence services to manipulate video evidence. The fallout is still rolling through Westminster, with a formal inquiry underway. In the middle of this storm, Carey has stepped into the role of Acting Commander of Counter Terrorism Command. She is trying to restore public faith in surveillance systems through Operation Veritas, a camera network designed to bring clarity back to policing. It sounds ideal, although the world of The Capture has a habit of turning ideals inside out.

When a tightly planned terror attack strikes at the centre of British power, leaving only one surviving witness, the pressure on Carey intensifies. Each step of the investigation drags her deeper into a widening geopolitical conflict that pulls in government, intelligence circles and the media. The scale of the conspiracy grows, twisting its way through the State, and Carey is left trying to work out who is truly steering events. With violence escalating around her and allies slipping away, the question becomes what she is prepared to give up in the fight for the truth.

The third series runs for six hour long episodes and comes from Heyday Television. It is created and written by Ben Chanan, who also directs alongside Anthony Philipson and Johnny Allan. Derek Ritchie produces the series and serves as Executive Producer, with David Heyman, Rosie Alison and Sue Gibbs representing Heyday, Tom Coan for Universal International Studios, Rebecca Ferguson for the BBC and Chanan himself also on board. Once completed, NBCUniversal Global TV Distribution will handle international distribution. The early look sets the mood well. A world where truth flickers, and one person trying to keep hold of it as everything shifts around her.