When DARKNESS falls...

Jodie Foster plays a police chief investigating a haunting case during a bitter Alaskan winter

-  SEAN MARLAND

Double Oscar-winner Jodie Foster becomes the latest big-name star to head the cast of hit US crime anthology drama True Detective when the show returns to Sky Atlantic for its darkest instalment yet.

Following on from previous seasons featuring actors of the stature of Matthew McConaughey, Colin Farrell and Mahershala Ali, the long-awaited fourth series takes viewers on a spine-chilling journey TV Satellite Week through the endless night of a freezing Alaskan winter.

The latest chapter is the first time the franchise has featured two female lead detectives, and it also has a new showrunner with Issa López taking over from the show's creator Nic Pizzolatto.

It opens with eight men vanishing without a trace from the Tsalal Arctic Research Station in the fictional town of Ennis, Alaska, in mid-December just as the sun sets for the final time that year.

The town's police chief, Liz Danvers (Foster), is quickly on the case, yet she soon finds the investigation taking her into the deepest corners of the human soul in a story that touches upon the supernatural.