Karen Campbell

Name	Karen Campbell
Portrayed by	Siobhan Redmond
Rank	Chief Superintendent
Duration	2010 - Present
Relationships
Family
Hometown

Chief Superintendent Karen Campbell first appeared in 2010 in series 27.

Character

As Reid, Ross and Burke are busy solving grisly murders, their Chief Super, Karen Campbell - played by Siobhan Redmond - is prowling the corridors of the Maryhill headquarters. Aware of D.I. Ross’ rookie approach, she is determined to find out about any unusual goings-on in the team that might hamper her attempts to improve the police force’s public relations.

As a strong woman she is more than a match for D.C.I. Burke, and the pair have never seen eye to eye. His no-nonsense and sometimes violent approach does not sit well with her mission to bring the police force into the 21st century. After passing up a job opportunity Campbell was gunning for Burke to take, relations between them are less than balmy, but why was she so determined to bring him down?

Campbell knows that Burke’s team runs on its loyalties, but with Ross’ increasing secrecy about his problems relations are strained. When she forces him to take on a new officer from the Diversity Unit, D.C. Mita Rahim, the appointment presents her with a potential source of inside information. Could the Chief Super take down the D.C.I. and his colleagues from the inside?

Always watching over Burke’s shoulder, Campbell has to curb the D.C.I.’s instincts to follow the trail wherever it leads, especially when he goes after high profile powerful suspects. He is also indirectly responsible for a series of police blunders that - if they got out - would be a PR disaster and a journalist’s dream. Not one to take criticism lightly, Burke begins to wonder whose side she’s on and whether he is endangering his own future by remaining loyal to Robbie.