Top of the Lake is an Australian / British / American television mystery drama miniseries written by Jane Campion and Gerard Lee and set in New Zealand, which follows a detective investigating the disappearance of a pregnant 12-year-old girl who finds herself mired knee-deep in dark, disturbing small-town secrets.
The series is a haunting mystery that centres on the disappearance of a 12-year-old named Tui Mitcham (Jacqueline Joe) who is five months pregnant, who walks into a freezing New Zealand lake... then disappears.
Investigative detective Robin Griffin (Elisabeth Moss) returns home to investigate, but it's not a simple missing persons case.
In this breathtaking but remote mountain town, there are evil forces as powerful as the land itself.
And those who offer a glimpse of paradise also provide a path to hell.
Trapped where happiness and honest work are just out of reach, Griffin must not only find the girl but also face her own haunting past.
She must lose herself in order to find the missing girl.
During the investigation, she collides with Matt Mitcham (Peter Mullan), Tui's father, a local drug lord; and GJ (Holly Hunter), a guru at a local women's camp.
As the case unfolds, in a paradise where honest work is hard to find, Robin will find that her limits are tested, sending her on a journey of self-discovery.
With the men that she once left behind now standing in her way, every step closer to solving the case unearths a dangerous truth about herself.
The miniseries also stars David Wenham (The Lord of the Rings) and Lucy Lawless (Xena: Warrior Princess), who has a cameo role as Caroline, the estranged wife of Bob, a real estate agent who crosses drug lord Matt Mitcham.
Top of the Lake is produced by Emile Sherman and Iain Cannin of See-Saw Films, and Philippa Campbell of Escapade Pictures.
Top of the Lake is a See-Saw Films production in association with Screen Australia, Screen NSW and Fulcrum Media Finance for BBC Two, Sundance Channel, UKTV and BBC Worldwide.
Broadcast Notes
Top of the Lake premiered in South Africa on DStv's M-Net Movies Premiere channel on Thursday 10 October 2013, at 20h30. New episodes broadcast in a double bill, weekly. The show moved to BBC First first for the second season.