Baptiste is a spinoff of The Missing, centered on the detective Julien Baptiste, played by Tchéky Karyo, who originated the character in that earlier series.

The show was written by Harry and Jack Williams, the same writing duo behind The Missing.

The BBC announced the spin-off in April 2018, with production aimed at a 2019 broadcast.

Baptiste's wife and daughter are played by the same actors who portrayed them in The Missing, while all other characters and actors are new to the franchise.

Although the first series is set in Amsterdam, some exterior scenes were actually filmed in Antwerp and Ghent in Belgium rather than in the Netherlands.

A handful of scenes for the first series were shot in Deal, Kingsdown, Ramsgate and Sandwich, all located in Kent, England.

In the United States, the series aired on PBS as part of its Masterpiece anthology, premiering on 12 April 2020.

The Guardian's Stuart Jeffries rated the second series four out of five, while The Daily Telegraph gave the first series three out of five, describing it as "worth sticking with".