BBC’s award-winning true crime series to return with look into Scotland’s ‘most notorious and enduring’ mystery

The BBC has confirmed that its award-winning true crime series, Murder Case, is set to return next month, and this time it will focus on one of “Scotland’s most notorious and enduring mysteries”.

The focus of the next series, which will air in February 2026, is the 1998 disappearance of mother-of-two, Arlene Fraser. Arlene disappeared on 28 April 1998, with her vanishing reported after her two children returned home from school.

The documentary, which will air across two 60-minute parts, will look inside the “controversial investigation and the extraordinary twists in Scotland’s courts”, and it’s set to highlight the family’s “unbreakable determination to uncover the truth”.

The series, which is a BBC Scotland production, will contain interviews with officers who investigated the case, as well as the media and members of the family, including Arlene’s sister, Carol Gillies, who has become a campaigner for reform to the justice system in the wake of the case.

David Harron, the Commissioning Editor of factual programmes at BBC Scotland, said: “Murder Case is one of our most important brands and remains hugely popular with the audience.

“The series provides a real insight into the work of the police in solving both contemporary and historical cases and is always made with care and sensitivity by Firecrest Films. The Arlene Fraser case was one of the most high-profile in Scotland for years and this series is both fascinating and moving.”

Murder Case and its sister show, Murder Trial, are incredibly popular shows for BBC Scotland. Last year, its two-part documentary, The Vanishing Cyclist, which investigated the disappearance and death of former naval officer Tony Parsons, was the most-watched BBC Scotland commissioned series of the year.

In 2020, the series won four awards at the Royal Television Society Awards Scotland, including Best Documentary and Best Director.

What happened to Arlene Fraser?

Arlene Fraser was last seen when her children went off to school on 23 April 1998. Although her case was initially treated as a missing persons case, six months after she vanished, the police declared that it was now a murder investigation.

At the time, DCI Peter Simpson said: “The only conclusion that’s still left open to us, which I firmly believe has happened, is that something criminal has taken place here and that Arlene has been the victim of a crime. I am of the opinion that she’s dead. There’s no indication that she’s living somewhere else.”

© Getty Images

Investigations eventually focused on Arlene’s husband, Nat Fraser, who at the time was on bail for her attempted murder. He was eventually charged with the murder alongside two others, Hector Dick and Glenn Lucas; the charges against the latter two were dropped so they could be called as witnesses for the prosecution.

Nat was found guilty of the murder in 2003; however, an appeal in 2006 claimed that relevant evidence was not submitted during the original trial. He was released from prison in May 2006, but returned on 6 May 2008 pending the outcome of the appeal.

© Alamy Stock Photo

In 2012, Nat was tried again for the murder, and on 30 May, he was found guilty by a majority verdict. He was sentenced to a 17-year jail sentence that he is still serving.

Arlene’s body has never been found.