The Vanishing Triangle
The Vanishing Triangle is a term originating in Irish media to denote a series of unsolved disappearances of six young women in the eastern Leinster region between 1993 and 1998.[1][2] These cases involved Annie McCarrick, aged 27, who vanished on 26 August 1993 after leaving her Dublin home for a walk in the Dublin-Wicklow mountains; Jo Jo Dullard, 21, missing since 9 November 1995 after attending a nightclub in Dublin and hitchhiking homeward through County Kildare; Fiona Pender, 25 and pregnant, last seen on 23 June 1996 in Tullamore, County Offaly; Ciara Breen, 18, who disappeared from her home in Dundrum, County Tipperary, on 13 February 1997; Deirdre Jacob, 21, unseen since 8 July 1998 after visiting her parents' farm near Newbridge, County Kildare; and Fiona Sinnott, 19, who went missing on 9 February 1998 following a social event in Prosperous, County Kildare.[3][4] The incidents occurred within a roughly 100-kilometer radius south and east of Dublin, spanning counties including Dublin, Wicklow, Kildare, and Laois, prompting public speculation of a serial offender despite a lack of forensic evidence linking the victims.[1][5] An Garda Síochána has pursued each disappearance as a separate inquiry, with no bodies recovered and no convictions to date, though occasional arrests—such as one in November 2024 related to Dullard's case—have not yielded charges.[3][1] Critics, including law enforcement sources, have described the "Vanishing Triangle" framing as a journalistic construct exaggerating connections across unrelated incidents spanning broader timelines and areas, rather than reflecting a singular causal pattern supported by empirical linkages.[1]Overview
Premise and plot summary
The Vanishing Triangle is a six-part Irish crime thriller miniseries centered on investigative journalist Lisa Wallace, who reopens the investigation into her mother's unsolved murder from two decades prior after publishing a provocative article on the case.[6] Set against the backdrop of 1990s Ireland, the narrative unfolds as Wallace's reporting coincides with a fresh wave of young women's disappearances in the so-called "Vanishing Triangle" region, prompting her to suspect a connection to a single serial perpetrator responsible for both past and present crimes.[7] Teaming with Detective David Burkely, Wallace pursues leads that intertwine journalistic inquiry with law enforcement efforts, navigating institutional obstacles and personal risks in a procedural format that builds tension through escalating abductions and mounting evidence.[8] The series posits a speculative linkage between Wallace's familial trauma and broader patterns of unsolved vanishings, framing her quest as a high-stakes confrontation with a elusive killer whose methods echo historical patterns of predation in rural Leinster.[9] This "what-if" exploration dramatizes the convergence of cold case revival and active serial offenses, emphasizing Wallace's determination to unearth suppressed truths amid a landscape of limited forensic resources and societal reticence typical of the era.[10] The plot arcs revolve around the duo's collaborative breakthroughs and setbacks, blending elements of psychological pursuit with the procedural mechanics of evidence gathering, all while maintaining a focus on the human cost of prolonged impunity.[7]Themes and stylistic elements
The series examines institutional shortcomings in Ireland's Garda Síochána during the 1990s, including corruption, systemic sexism, and inadequate coordination that hindered investigations into women's disappearances, reflecting real historical limitations such as the absence of a national missing persons database.[11][10] Personal grief drives the narrative through protagonist Lisa Wallace's unresolved trauma from witnessing her mother's murder as a child, intertwining individual loss with broader societal failures in addressing unsolved crimes.[10] The media's influence is portrayed as a double-edged force, with journalistic exposés amplifying public awareness but also fueling sensational speculation about serial killers over systemic issues.[11] Stylistically, the production employs atmospheric cinematography that leverages Ireland's Leinster landscapes—mixing rural isolation and suburban unease—to heighten tension, using medium and long shots to evoke a pervasive sense of vulnerability without graphic depictions of violence.[11] Tense pacing builds suspense deliberately across episodes, drawing on noir traditions through a dark, moody tone, moral ambiguity among law enforcement figures, and distrust of institutions, yet prioritizes psychological realism by humanizing victims and investigators via intimate facial framing and empathetic character studies.[11][10] This approach avoids sensationalism, subtly underscoring gender-based risks through narrative focus on injustice toward women rather than explicit political advocacy.[11][10]Cast and characters
Principal cast
India Mullen portrays Lisa Wallace, a determined investigative journalist in 1990s Dublin whose pursuit of a serial killer is fueled by the unsolved murder of her mother, Janice, during a home invasion. Mullen's performance captures Wallace's resilience and vulnerability, highlighting her willingness to confront personal trauma while navigating institutional skepticism toward female reporters.[12][10] Allen Leech plays Detective David Burkley, the Garda Síochána officer assigned to the vanishings who reluctantly collaborates with Wallace, bringing forensic expertise amid bureaucratic hurdles and personal struggles with his closeted homosexuality in a repressive era. Leech conveys Burkley's internal conflict and professional diligence, underscoring the era's tensions between duty and hidden identity.[13][14] Supporting the leads, Aaron Monaghan depicts Gareth Brennan, a complex figure entangled in the investigation whose portrayal reveals layers of ambiguity and potential complicity, adding moral depth to the narrative's exploration of authority's failings.[15]Recurring and guest roles
Maura Foley portrays Janice Wallace, a family member of investigative journalist Lisa Wallace, appearing in three episodes to depict the emotional toll on relatives of past victims and fueling personal motivations within the narrative.[15] Kiera Crawford plays Rachel Burkely, the daughter of detective David Burkely, contributing to subplots that explore familial vulnerabilities amid ongoing threats to women in the community.[16] Sarah Carroll recurs as Mary Burkely, David Burkely's wife, highlighting domestic strains and the intrusion of professional dangers into private lives.[17] Adam John Richardson embodies Tommy Stephens, a recurring suspect-like figure involved in local dynamics, appearing across five episodes to amplify suspicions and interpersonal conflicts without resolving central mysteries.[18] Jason Daly's Jimmy supports ensemble interactions that underscore neighborhood paranoia and investigative hurdles.[16] These roles collectively emphasize how peripheral figures—ranging from kin to potential persons of interest—intensify the atmosphere of distrust and collective trauma in the affected region. Guest appearances, such as those by Philip O'Sullivan in authoritative capacities and Sheila Flitton as Betty, introduce episodic layers of bureaucratic friction and victim-adjacent testimonies, enhancing tension through brief but pointed engagements with the core inquiry.[15] Such portrayals avoid principal advancements, instead reinforcing the series' focus on diffused societal unease rather than isolated heroics.[19]Production
Development and writing
Ivan Kavanagh conceived The Vanishing Triangle as a six-part crime drama series, drawing inspiration from the unsolved disappearances of several women in Ireland during the 1990s, particularly along the eastern corridor known as the Vanishing Triangle, though the narrative is entirely fictionalized rather than a direct adaptation of specific cases.[20][21] Kavanagh, known for horror films such as The Canal (2014) and Son (2021), shifted to television scripting for this project, emphasizing a procedural structure rooted in the era's investigative limitations while inventing causal connections among the crimes to drive the plot toward resolution, diverging from the real-life cases' lack of closure.[22][23] Development originated in the late 2010s or early 2020s, with Kavanagh actively writing and positioning himself as showrunner by March 2021, when he described it as a "fact-based crime TV series" set in 1990s Ireland.[23] The scripting process involved collaboration with co-writers Sally Tatchell, known for The Bay, and Rachel Anthony, focusing on authentic depictions of Garda Síochána procedures amid societal tensions over violence against women, while prioritizing narrative cohesion through invented perpetrator motivations over historical ambiguities.[24][12] This approach allowed the series to explore themes of institutional failure and injustice without adhering to unresolved real events, greenlit for production in September 2022 as an international co-production between Irish entities like Park Films and Virgin Media Television, and U.S. partners including Sundance Now.[22][25]Casting process
The principal casting for The Vanishing Triangle was announced on September 1, 2022, with Irish actor Allen Leech selected to portray Detective Superintendent David Burkely, the lead investigator into the series of disappearances. Leech, known for his role as Tom Branson in Downton Abbey (2010–2015), brought established experience in complex authority figures to the production.[25][15] India Mullen, also Irish and recognized for her performances in the miniseries Normal People (2020) and the soap Red Rock (2015–2017), was cast as Lisa Wallace, an investigative journalist whose personal connection to the crimes drives the narrative. Her selection emphasized the need for performers capable of conveying layered trauma and determination in a story rooted in Ireland's real unsolved cases from the 1990s.[25][15] Supporting roles, including Aaron Monaghan as Garda Gareth Brennan and Laoise Sweeney as Superintendent Susan Reynolds, further drew from Ireland's acting pool to maintain cultural specificity and avoid superficial portrayals of law enforcement and victims' families. No major public challenges in assembling the cast were reported, though the emphasis on local talent aligned with the series' dramatization of authentic Irish events.[15]Filming and technical aspects
Principal photography for The Vanishing Triangle occurred primarily in County Wicklow, Ireland, during late 2022.[26] [27] Specific sites included Bray and rural areas within the county, selected to authentically replicate the Leinster geography associated with the real-life "Vanishing Triangle" disappearances of the 1990s.[28] [27] This on-location approach grounded the series' depiction of isolated rural settings and contributed to its atmospheric realism, avoiding the artificiality of studio-bound production.[27] Production design emphasized period accuracy for the 1990s timeframe, incorporating authentic Irish locales to evoke the era's socio-economic and environmental context without relying on extensive set construction.[27] The use of Wicklow's natural terrain—featuring wooded areas, coastal paths, and small-town infrastructure—mirrored the spatial dynamics of the historical cases, reinforcing the narrative's focus on vulnerability in peripheral regions.[28] Technical execution prioritized practical filming over heavy post-production effects, aligning with the series' commitment to procedural authenticity in a low-budget independent format.[27]Episodes
Episode structure and synopses
The series consists of six episodes, each approximately 47-52 minutes in duration, structured as a serialized crime thriller that advances the central investigation across installments while incorporating elements of personal backstory, police procedural work, and escalating pursuits. Episodes blend dialogue-driven interrogations, on-foot chases through rural Irish landscapes, and tense confrontations, with narrative progression shifting from initial case linkage in early episodes to institutional obstacles and revelations in later ones. The episodes aired weekly on AMC+ in the United States, beginning with a double premiere of the first two on October 26, 2023, followed by subsequent releases on November 2, 9, 16, and 23, 2023.[29][30]- Episode 1 (October 26, 2023): Investigative journalist Lisa Wallace's article revisiting her mother's unsolved murder coincides with a fresh disappearance, drawing her into reluctant partnership with Detective David Burkely to explore potential connections in the Gardaí's handling of missing persons cases.[31]
- Episode 2 (October 26, 2023): As public scrutiny mounts over the latest vanishing, Wallace's reporting exposes Gardaí shortcomings, prompting Burkely and Detective Brennan to pursue early leads on a suspect while Wallace delves into risky personal inquiries.[29]
- Episode 3 (November 2, 2023): Burkely presses witnesses and suspects for breakthroughs amid mounting evidence, as Wallace fields anonymous tips that intensify her independent probe into patterns linking past and present cases.[29]
- Episode 4 (November 9, 2023): Wallace faces urgent choices in balancing multiple leads, including a tip directing her to overlooked evidence, while the investigation strains under internal pressures and competing priorities.[29]
- Episode 5 (November 16, 2023): Burkely and Brennan zero in on higher-profile figures within the force as potential links to the abductions, with Wallace uncovering ties that provoke threats and force her to reassess family involvement.[29]
- Episode 6 (November 23, 2023): The probe encounters institutional roadblocks as Burkely challenges superiors, leading Wallace and allies to chase final leads toward a remote site amid revelations that test loyalties and resolve lingering threads.[32]