Fresh from the UK, the buzzed-about thriller Vigil arrives on BINGE on August 30. Here’s everything you need to know to get into this tense new series, and why Eliza Janssen gives it a thumbs (and periscope) up.
Vigil grabs viewers in its opening minutes, pulling us below the surface of a sinister maritime mystery from the makers of Bodyguard and Line of Duty. We hear blokey banter between a crew of six Scottish fishermen, before their trawler is helplessly snagged onto some craft in the ocean’s depths—dragging their ship down, down, down into the frigid waters. The men die at sea, and the mystery begins.
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BINGE’s new drama, freshly imported from the UK, stars Suranne Jones and Rose Leslie as officers working to solve a marine murder investigation which spirals into international conspiracy. After watching the first few episodes you too will be helplessly dragged into this addictive mystery. Here’s our guide to the world of this intensely entertaining submarine series, its powerful performances, and what makes the story so damn suspenseful.
Let’s talk about that setup
The setup is a pulse-pounding moment of dread reminiscent of BBC’s beloved series Bodyguard, with its (literally) explosive opening scene of a terrorist attack on a London train. We soon learn there are forces way beyond civilian understanding at work—and that lives can be lost any second. But there’s no time to mourn: soon we are briefed on another death—the alleged overdose of a crew member on the HMS Vigil submarine.
Taking charge of this investigation is Detective Chief Inspector Amy Silva (Suranne Jones), a hyper-capable cop who seems initially unshaken by the prospect of three days deep underwater on assignment. Even with colleague Kirsten (Rose Leslie, one of several Game of Thrones alumni in Vigil) passing on messages from land, her superiors aren’t particularly reassuring about the descent, telling her “it’s perfectly safe. Unless you get hit by a tanker.”
The mere logistics of the mission and the isolation of life on the sub will give viewers the jitters. No calls home; no checking TikTok. The vessel can’t signal to shore, otherwise it risks giving away its position to enemy craft. Amy’s arrival is a terrifying process; she’s helicopter-lifted into the middle of the ocean and dangled from a cable onto the grey sub, rising up from a totally uninterrupted teal ocean. And that’s all before Amy suspects foul play, believing somebody on board might be behind the supposed OD.
The cast includes a boatload of British character actors
Vigil is infested with respectable British character actors, a buffet of “oh hey I know that guy” moments for those with an established taste for UK telly. Most are cast as hostile seamen, making Amy’s investigations more challenging and generally being a pain in the neck. Everyone she interrogates is irritable from lack of sleep (“You should get a good four hours”, she’s encouraged) or just straight-up unwilling to help, outranking Amy by such a degree that they can just walk away from her probing questions.
BBC obsessives will recognise Suranne Jones from her equally sympathetic roles in series like Doctor Foster and Gentleman Jack. As Amy, she delivers a portrait of a woman lost at sea long before setting foot on the HMS Vigil. Bruising flashbacks show her once-happy home life with a loving husband and a daughter, in scenes that feel so bitterly distant from the cold physical and emotional atmosphere of the submarine —before we realise that her past trauma is closely tied to both water and enclosed spaces. Oof.
One of the most striking stand-out performances comes from Paterson Joseph as the sub’s Commander Newsome; he was so menacing as a cult manipulator in The Leftovers and is just as intimidating here. When he threatens to lock Amy in her quarters for the entire three days of investigation, you certainly believe him.
Grey areas make for great TV
There’s a haunting grey area between the end of the detective’s jurisdiction and what the tight-lipped crew know. But guess what? Grey areas make for great TV, and Vigil is a must-see for how it strands a righteous character amidst a grey mass of bureaucracy and secrecy. It gives off a strong vibe of The Castle—Kafka’s 1926 novel, not the “how’s the serenity” Australian classic—and we can’t wait to get to the bottom of this submerged, toxic power hierarchy.
Through creaky sound design and nail-biting dialogue, this show never lets you forget that its characters are trapped underwater in a steel box, saddled with $50 million pounds of nuclear missiles. Creator Tom Edge brings together multiple phobias under the sea: anxieties of claustrophobia, drowning, isolation…all before we even get into the possibility of an enemy vessel, which might just put lives and the nation’s security in danger.
Like that drowned trawler in the show’s opening sequence, we have to keep plunging deeper into Vigil to learn who can be trusted. By episode two, Amy’s confined against her will at sea, as Kirsten faces off against masked attackers in a chilling home invasion scene on land: despite seemingly working alongside their naval suspects in Her Majesty’s service (secret or otherwise), these women are not welcome. Perhaps they represent the honest ‘vigil’ in this gripping show’s title, rather than the shadowy military submarine with the same name.
Watch the brand new series Vigil, from Monday 30 August on BINGE. New to BINGE? Get a 14-day free trial at binge.com.au.
