Tcheky Karyo obituary

"It was a less familiar performer, the Turkish-born French actor Tcheky Karyo, who provided the main point of continuity between both series, as well as supplying their moral centre. As the dogged, philosophical detective Julien Baptiste, he is first seen tending to his bees and contemplating imminent retirement. That is, until a cold case from eight years earlier re-enters his life."

"Nesbitt plays a man whose five-year-old son was snatched from the (fictional) French town of Chalons du Bois, and who has returned to the area after spotting his child's distinctive scarf in a recent photograph taken there. Baptiste feigns scepticism, but is soon making his own inquiries. During the original investigation, he had declared: Sadly, we find [the boy] immediately or not at all. His tenacity lends the series its momentum, his wisdom and humanity its depth."

"He had been acting on screen since the early 1980s. His roles included an urban planner caught up in the romantic imbroglios of Eric Rohmer's Full Moon in Paris (1984); a hunter, one of the few human characters in Jean-Jacques Annaud's The Bear (1988); Bob, a recruiter and trainer of assassins, in Luc Besson's stylish thriller La Femme Nikita (1990);"

The Missing ran for two series on BBC One in 2014 and 2016 and evoked famous holiday child disappearances. The thriller uses multiple timelines and features Keeley Hawes, David Morrissey, James Nesbitt and Ken Stott. Tcheky Karyo provided continuity and moral centre as detective Julien Baptiste, a philosophical investigator who tends bees and faces a cold case eight years old. Nesbitt's character returns after spotting his son's scarf in a photograph, prompting Baptiste to reopen inquiries. Baptiste's tenacity drives the series' momentum while his wisdom and humanity add emotional depth. Karyo had a long screen career from the early 1980s.

Read at www.theguardian.com