Murder Island Mobile Games
View the case- Brand
- Channel 4
- Year
- 2021
- Objective
- Awareness
- Industry
- Entertainment
- Mechanic
- Puzzle
- Platform
- Web
- Agency
- 4Creative
- With
- UNIT9
- With
- Le Polish Bureau
Objective
Channel 4 needed to build anticipation for Murder Island, its new crime-solving reality format, and give fans a way to engage with the show between episodes rather than just watching it. UNIT9 and in-house agency 4Creative built a mobile experience letting viewers test their own detective skills, proving they had what it takes to complete DCI Simon Harding's training.
Solution
The site opens straight in a phone browser, no app required, with DCI Simon Harding briefing the player by video and audio as if he's calling in a real case. From there the player is handed a single investigation to solve: digging through a victim's phone, piecing together torn-up documents, and scrubbing through security footage for clues. Each case runs as a short, self-contained session built for playing on the go, and a new one unlocks only once the current one is cracked. Two further cases dropped later in the month, keeping fans coming back between episodes.
Results
Over 131,000 visits to the microsite in the first few weeks after launch.
- 1
The player opens DetectivesWanted.co.uk on a mobile phone, invited to test their detective instincts by working through a three-case training program.
- 2
Cases unlock gradually rather than all at once: the first goes live in early November 2021, with two more added later in the month, prompting players to return to the site for each new case.
- 3
Each case opens with a video briefing from DCI Simon Harding, a character from the show, staged as an incoming call from a superior setting up the scenario.
- 4
In the first case, the player is handed a murder victim's phone and searches through its contents themselves to dig up the information that cracks the case.
- 5
In the second case, the player reassembles a shredded document by fitting its torn fragments back together to reveal what it said.
- 6
In the third case, the player reviews suspicious CCTV footage, watching closely to spot who is on camera and what they are doing.
- 7
Each case supplies its own clues and investigative tools, and solving it advances the player further through the training toward the rank of detective.
