SUMMERWATER sun,mon &tue 9pm ch 4 - TV PACE. NO SPOILERS

[Blondeshavemorefun]

The Channel 4 drama is based on the best-selling novel of the same name by author Sarah Moss.

Dougary Scott stars alongside Harry Potter (https://www.radiotimes.com/tag/harry-potter-franchise/) legend Shirley Henderson (yes, Moaning Myrtle!) in the unsettling first look trailer at new Channel 4 drama Summerwater.

The new six-part Scottish drama is based on the best-selling novel of the same name by author Sarah Moss and boasts plenty of atmosphere in this promo, which airs on Channel 4 (https://www.radiotimes.com/tag/channel-4/) tonight (Sunday 2nd November 2025).

Summerwater has been adapted by Utopia scribe John Donnelly and is directed by TV crime drama veterans Robert McKillop and Fiona Walton.

The footage teases a non-linear narrative as a destructive event in a Scottish holiday park prompts questions about the dramatic lives of those in residence.

The official synopsis from Channel 4 reads: "Set predominantly at a remote loch-side Scottish holiday cabin park, Summerwater looks at the simmering tensions between holidaymakers that eventually erupt into a devastating climax."

The synopsis continues: "Weaving together the lives of several families as they navigate unspoken conflicts, private dilemmas, and fleeting moments of beauty from their disparate cabins, the story flashes back to dramatic events in key characters’ lives before their holiday which may have consequences in the present."

Summerwater is the story of a group of strangers who happen to be staying in a Scottish holiday camp during the same week, a week during which it seems mostly to be raining so often that the various families are largely confined to their cabins where they surreptitiously spy on each other through slatted windows. 😂

Channel 4 itself boasts that the show is "thrilling and compulsive" and "character-led".

Could this be a classic whodunnit? Or something all the more disturbing?

Alongside Scott and Henderson, who are visible in the trailer, the drama also features performances from Blue Lights (https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/blue-lights-season-3-release/) favourite Valene Kane, Showtrial's (https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/showtrial-bbc-review/)Anna Próchniak, House of the Dragon (https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/fantasy/house-of-the-dragon-season-3-release-date/) actor Gabriel Scott, Vigil's (https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/vigil-season-3-cast-first-look-newsupdate/) Anders Hayward, and The White Lotus season 3 (https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/white-lotus-season-3-release-date/) actor Arnas Fedaravičiu.

We'll have to see who is playing a guilty party when the drama finally arrives on our screens...

What was really sad was that nobody knows how brave Alex was, dying because he went in to rescue someone. 🥲
Or how really nasty Lola was !

True. He went in to save but no one there

Bit of a weird series

I watched it all, and it was a quality production but not sure I'd recommend it to anyone as a must see. Perhaps it tried to cram too much in, plus I find non-linear timelines irritating as I'm not really sure what value they add apart from padding things out? Also the trend for sensation over feeling in everything, I think is rendering people (me) a bit blah.

I definitely wouldn't recommend it as a must see! 😆

Kayleigh was Gavins daughter. A few years older than in the cafe scenes with him and with dyed black hair as he referred to her as a goth.

it was a bit slow and bleak but I love folk horror and it fit that bill.

I don’t think Kayleigh was Gavin’s daughter, though I agree it was ambiguous. He referred to his daughter as “Kerr”

I don't think Kayleigh was Gavin's daughter no

I thought it looked beautiful, very cinematic when I saw the first ep on mum's huge new TV. Then saw the rest at home on our little old one and omg the difference ... I must be generally missing a lot visually!

You absolutely had to concentrate and I did find it hard to understand what some of the characters were saying.

Shirley Henderson's performance was standout superb, among a very strong cast, including the children. The unspoken moment where she conveys 'there's a car coming fast all I need do is stand here and wait they won't be able to stop and this will all be over in an instant and oh shit they missed and I'm still here' with just expressions ...

I was disappointed with the supernatural element - Gavin touches on it with the ley lines and portal speeches, the bothy clearly has something wrong with it - but I WANTED to know more about it and what was going on there. It was so heavily signposted with the music, the atmospheric shots of the scenery and the claustrophic woods, but it felt like they'd kind of forgotten about it and just bolted a Gavin recap bit on the end. Oh yeah, there's something weird here. Anyway, roll credits.

What. Was. It.

Maybe a bit less sex and soap and a bit more of the supernatural.

Which one was kayleigh

Girl who was dating Alex, who he saw in his mind as he was dying of smoke inhalation.

Oh gosh. I never clicked Kayleigh was Gavin’s daughter 🙈
So Alex’s sister was the girl who spoke to Gavin in the woods and Gavin was Kayleigh’s father ???

No I don't think she was his daughter at all

Alex's sister Becky was the one who spoke to Gavin in the woods.

I don't think Kayleigh was Gavin's daughter but I agree it was ambiguous.

From the s4 recap:

Becky reveals that she’s 17. Gavin says he’s more than double that. He has a daughter, Kerr, who is younger than Becky. Gavin explains he doesn’t see her much anymore because he’s not with her mother....Gavin tells her she shouldn’t joke about stuff like that. He agrees to let Becky keep the passport. Becky says she’s actually 15. She asks Gavin whether that bothers him. Gavin asks if it should.

Since I assume Alex is older than Becky and that Kayleigh is the same school year as Alex, I would not have thought that Kerr and Kayleigh are the same person.

What was the point of the Justine story and the fight with the woman who got her job ? What happened to her ?

We don't know, other than the police back home are calling to try to talk to Justine, so presumably Maya complained about the passport/car keying/knife waving!

So she’s not dead @SheilaFentiman?

We don't know

But Kayleigh tells Alex that her dad had a mental breakdown, got in a fight and now lives in the woods and they never see him. Bit of a coincidence if that’s 2 different guys no?

This is a good point

But my head has exploded over everything else 😂

I don’t really see any reason to believe Maya is dead. The police would have cause to follow up with Justine on passport theft, criminal damage and threatening behaviour

Did Kayleigh say her dad lived in the woods?! I thought her dad was sectioned after the grotto incident and she hadn’t heard from him again.

From same recap. Nothing about the woods.

Alex asks Kayleigh about her father. She admits they don’t really see him anymore. The Christmas before last, some guy started shouting at people in a shopping center. He took a pee in Santa’s grotto and it ended up on the local news. Kayleigh admits that it was her dad and he got sectioned after a psychotic episode. He doesn’t want to see them now.