The Game Returns Darker Than Before as Viewers Praise Robson Green’s “Creepy” Serial Killer

Putting Patrick Harbottle behind bars was supposed to end Huw Miller’s nightmare. Instead, the second series of Channel 5’s The Game finds the imprisoned serial killer reaching back into the retired detective’s life, targeting his family and proving that prison bars have done little to weaken his psychological hold.

Jason Watkins and Robson Green have returned as Huw and Patrick for another four-part chapter of the tense cat-and-mouse thriller. Series two premiered on Channel 5 on September 1, 2026, with the second episode following the next night.

And viewers have quickly singled out Green’s deeply unsettling performance, with reactions describing his villain as “creepy as hell” and suggesting the new series already feels darker than the first.

Patrick May Be in Prison, but the Game Is Far From Over

The first series introduced Huw as a recently retired detective still haunted by the case he never solved.

Years earlier, the Ripton Stalker had terrorised the community, following victims before killing them. Huw had failed to catch the murderer, and the case remained lodged in his mind long after his police career ended.

Then Patrick Harbottle moved into the neighbourhood.

A seemingly ordinary conversation changed everything when Patrick used a phrase associated with the killer Huw had spent years trying to find.

Huw became convinced that his new neighbour was the Ripton Stalker.

The problem was persuading anyone else.

His fixation placed enormous pressure on his marriage and increasingly made Huw look like a man unable to let go of the past. But by the finale, his suspicions were vindicated: Patrick really was the killer.

Huw finally succeeded in putting him behind bars, but not before Patrick stabbed him during their violent final confrontation.

That might have seemed like the natural conclusion to their story.

Series two reveals it was only the end of the first round.

One Year Later, Huw Is Trying to Disappear

The new episodes pick up a year after the attack.

Huw has retreated to a remote coastal home with his wife Alice, played again by Sunetra Sarker. After everything the family endured, he is determined to put Patrick and the Ripton Stalker case behind him.

Their daughter Margot, played by Indy Lewis, is also trying to move forward and is preparing to live with her boyfriend Sam.

For a while, Huw appears to have created the distance he desperately needed.

Then Patrick finds him.

Letters begin arriving from prison.

Despite being locked away, Patrick knows where Huw is living and wants his former adversary to visit him. The discovery immediately destroys the sense of safety Huw has been attempting to rebuild.

Patrick cannot physically walk into Huw’s home anymore.

Psychologically, however, he has already found his way back inside.

Patrick Starts Reaching Into Huw’s Family

Series two expands the conflict beyond the two men at its center.

Patrick’s campaign increasingly reaches Huw’s family, creating the terrifying possibility that his influence extends far beyond the prison walls.

Margot begins experiencing disturbing incidents of her own, while Alice becomes increasingly concerned that Patrick remains capable of threatening them despite his imprisonment.

The official premise makes clear just how far the new season intends to push Huw.

A year after surviving Patrick’s attack, Huw believes he has escaped the killer’s psychological grip. Patrick, however, begins another game from prison — one designed to reach into Huw’s family, destabilise his judgment and force him toward a devastating choice.

The central question is no longer whether Patrick is guilty.

Everyone knows exactly what he is.

Now the mystery is how much damage he can still cause when he is supposedly locked safely away.

A New Mystery Reopens Patrick’s Past

While Patrick continues manipulating Huw, another thread begins developing around his earlier crimes.

A woman believes her missing husband may have been Patrick’s first victim.

Her claim forces new attention onto the killer’s past and raises questions about exactly how far back his crimes go.

At the same time, the strange incidents surrounding Huw’s family suggest Patrick may have help beyond the prison.

That possibility has already given viewers plenty to theorise about.

Some suspect Margot’s boyfriend could be involved. Others have wondered whether someone connected to the police might be communicating with Patrick.

For the moment, those remain viewer theories rather than confirmed answers.

But the uncertainty is exactly what gives the second series another layer of tension: Patrick is behind bars, yet events outside continue unfolding in ways that appear to serve his agenda.

Robson Green’s Villain Is Stealing Viewers’ Attention

The return of Robson Green as Patrick has generated some of the strongest reactions to the opening episodes.

Green is familiar to many viewers from roles such as Grantchester, but The Game gives him an opportunity to play someone dramatically more sinister.

One viewer summed up the appeal simply: “Do love Robson as a baddie.”

Another praised him as “bl**dy brilliant and creepy as hell,” while a third admitted being surprised by how convincing Green was as the villain.

Others focused on the overall atmosphere of the new series.

One viewer said the second run already felt darker, while another admitted they had forgotten just how “creepy and unnerving” The Game could be until the opening episode left them unsettled all over again.

Another praised the abundance of “twists and turns,” particularly highlighting the unexpected opening twist.

The response reflects what made Patrick effective in the first series.

He does not need to behave like an obvious monster in every scene.

Much of the discomfort comes from the contrast between Green’s familiar, outwardly controlled presence and the knowledge of what Patrick is capable of doing.

Jason Watkins Returns as a Man Who Cannot Escape His Worst Case

If Patrick enjoys the game, Huw is the man trapped inside it.

Jason Watkins once again plays the former detective as someone whose entire life has been reshaped by the killer he once failed to catch.

Huw spent the first series desperately trying to prove that Patrick was the Ripton Stalker.

He was right.

But being right cost him enormously.

By the beginning of series two, he has survived a near-fatal stabbing and moved away in an attempt to protect his family and recover from everything that happened.

Patrick’s letters threaten to undo that recovery almost immediately.

Watkins previously teased that Huw would get little relief in the second series, saying his character had already “been through the mill” and that there would be “no let-up” in the new episodes.

Green offered a similarly ominous description of Patrick’s return, saying the killer would be “pulling strings with a vengeance.”

That phrase captures the central idea of series two.

Patrick’s physical freedom has been taken away.

His ability to manipulate people has not.

The Returning Cast Brings the Miller Family Back Together

Alongside Watkins and Green, Sunetra Sarker reprises her role as Huw’s wife Alice.

Indy Lewis returns as their daughter Margot, while Amber James is back as DS Jenny Atkins, the detective involved in finally bringing Patrick to justice.

The new series also introduces Sonny Ashbourne Serkis as Margot’s boyfriend Sam.

Other additions include Tanya Franks as Jackie, Dominic Rowan as Clarke, Carl Rice as Ian, Amanda Bright as Natalie Gower and Richard Pepple as Gareth.

Their arrival broadens the world around Huw and Patrick at exactly the point when the story begins raising questions about who might be helping the imprisoned killer.

That means new characters inevitably come under suspicion.

But The Game is careful not to make the mystery simply about identifying an accomplice.

The greater danger is what Patrick can persuade other people to do.

Series Two Wasn’t Originally Part of the Plan

The continuation may feel inevitable now, but another series was not necessarily expected when the first story concluded.

Green revealed that the cast had not initially planned on returning for a second season after the dramatic finale. The success of the first run ultimately brought Huw and Patrick back for another confrontation.

That creates an interesting challenge for the new episodes.

Series one was constructed around a central mystery: was Huw correct about Patrick, or had his obsession with the Ripton Stalker caused him to fixate on an innocent neighbour?

Once Patrick’s identity was revealed, that mystery could not simply be repeated.

The second series therefore changes the rules.

Huw no longer needs to prove who Patrick is.

Instead, he needs to work out what Patrick is planning — and how the killer continues exerting influence from prison.

The uncertainty has moved from Patrick’s identity to the reach of his control.

A Four-Part Thriller With Little Time to Waste

Like the first run, series two consists of four episodes.

The opening two aired on September 1 and 2, with episodes three and four scheduled for September 8 and 9 on Channel 5.

The compact format gives the story little room for filler.

Within the opening episodes, Huw’s attempt at a peaceful new life has already been disrupted, Patrick has re-established contact, Margot has been drawn into the danger and questions about the killer’s earlier victims have started emerging.

The psychological battle between the two men remains the heart of the drama, but the stakes have expanded.

Huw once wanted to catch Patrick.

Now he has to protect his family from someone who is already caught.

Why Patrick Is More Unsettling Behind Bars

On paper, Patrick should be less threatening this time around.

He has been exposed.

He has lost his freedom.

Huw no longer has to convince anyone that he is dangerous.

Yet the prison setting arguably makes Patrick’s continued influence even more disturbing.

Every unexplained incident outside raises the same question: if Patrick is locked away, who is acting for him?

And if someone is helping him, how much of Huw’s life can Patrick still reach?

That uncertainty has already become one of the season’s most effective hooks.

Instead of another straightforward hunt for the Ripton Stalker, The Game has turned Patrick into a psychological threat capable of destabilising Huw without being physically present.

The killer’s goal appears to be larger than revenge.

He wants Huw engaged.

He wants him thinking about the game again.

And judging by the opening episodes, that strategy is working.

Viewers Are Already Trying to Solve the New Mystery

The first two episodes have prompted plenty of speculation online.

Fans are attempting to identify who might be connected to Patrick outside prison and how the new disappearance from his past fits into the wider story.

Theories range from Margot’s boyfriend to someone within law enforcement.

Whether any of those guesses prove accurate remains to be seen.

What is clear is that The Game has successfully shifted its central mystery without losing the uneasy dynamic that made the first series compelling.

Huw and Patrick are no longer neighbours watching one another across the street.

They are separated by prison walls and miles of distance.

Somehow, Patrick still feels uncomfortably close.

The Game Is Available on Channel 5

The second series of The Game began on Channel 5 on September 1, 2026, with Jason Watkins, Robson Green, Sunetra Sarker, Indy Lewis and Amber James returning.

Episodes three and four are scheduled to air on September 8 and September 9 respectively, while the first series is also available through Channel 5’s streaming service.

For viewers who enjoyed the first season’s battle between a determined former detective and the killer nobody else believed he had found, the sequel offers a darker variation on the same relationship.

Patrick Harbottle has finally been caught.

But as Huw is discovering, catching a serial killer and escaping him are two very different things.