Introduction

Vigil is a British police procedural television miniseries created by Tom Edge and produced by World Productions.

The six-part series commenced on BBC One in August 2021. It stars Suranne Jones, Rose Leslie, Shaun Evans, Paterson Joseph and Martin Compston. The series is set in Scotland and much of the action takes place on a fictional nuclear-powered submarine.

Outline (Season 01)

Detective Chief Inspector Amy Silva of the Scottish Police Service (the fictionalised Police Scotland) is sent to HMS Vigil, a fictional Vanguard class nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine, to investigate a death on board, which takes place shortly after the mysterious disappearance of a Scottish fishing trawler. Her investigations, and those of her colleagues ashore, bring the police into conflict with the Royal Navy and MI5, the British Security Service.

Outline (Season 02)

When a fantastical prototype Air Force combat drone is compromised and kills several soldiers during a joint demonstration in Scotland, Silva’s team are tasked with finding the perpetrator. She travels to joint Al-Shawka Air Base in the fictional Kingdom of Wudyan, a controversial ally in the Persian Gulf, and discovers a wider conspiracy intertwined with current regime’s collaboration with the British government and private enterprise on drone development.

Cast

• Main:
  • Suranne Jones as Detective Chief Inspector Amy Silva
  • Rose Leslie as Detective Sergeant/Inspector Kirsten Longacre
  • Gary Lewis as Detective Superintendent/Chief Superintendent Colin Robertson
  • Orla Russell as Poppy, Silva’s adopted daughter from a previous relationship

• Recurring (Season 01):
  • Shaun Evans as Warrant Officer Class One Elliot Glover, the coxswain of HMS Vigil
  • Martin Compston as Chief Petty Officer Craig Burke, a sonar mapping expert on HMS Vigil
  • Paterson Joseph as Commander Neil Newsome, the Captain of HMS Vigil
  • Adam James as Lieutenant Commander Mark Prentice, the Executive Officer of HMS Vigil
  • Lauren Lyle as Jade Antoniak, a peace activist
  • Therese Bradley as Laura Michaels, an MI5 officer
  • Parth Thakerar as Jay Kohli, an MI5 officer
  • Lolita Chakrabarti as Lieutenant Commander Erin Branning, Shaw’s aide
  • Dan Li as Lieutenant Commander Hennessy, the Weapons Engineer Officer on HMS Vigil
  • Lorne MacFadyen as Chief Petty Officer Matthew Doward, a sonar mapping expert transferred from HMS Virtue
  • Connor Swindells as Lieutenant Simon Hadlow, an engineering officer on HMS Vigil
  • Lois Chimimba as Chief Petty Officer Tara Kierly, a sonar mapping expert of HMS Vigil
  • Daniel Portman as Chief Petty Officer Gary Walsh, an engineer on HMS Vigil
  • Anjli Mohindra as Surgeon Lieutenant Tiffany Docherty, the medical officer on HMS Vigil
  • Anita Vettesse as Petty Officer Jackie Hamilton, chef on HMS Vigil
  • Stephen Dillane as Rear Admiral Shaw, Head of the Royal Navy Submarine Service
  • Reuben Joseph as Detective Sergeant Porter
  • Cal MacAninch as Ben Oakley, peace activist
  • Tom Gill as Petty Officer Adams

• Recurring (Season 02):
  • Dougray Scott as Air Vice Marshal Marcus Grainger, a senior officer in charge of the R-PAS drone project
  • Romola Garai as Acting Squadron Leader Eliza Russell, interim leader of British forces stationed at Al-Shawka Air Base
  • Chris Jenks as Flight Lieutenant Callum Barker, a drone pilot stationed in Wudyan
  • David Elliot as Ross Sutherland, a disturbed ex-soldier
  • Oscar Salem as Captain Sattam Abdul “Sam” Kader, a Royal Wudyani Air Force drone pilot
  • Nebras Jamali as Colonel Ali Bilali, commander of Al-Shawka Air Base in Wudyan
  • Amir El-Masry as Daniel Ramsey, an MI5 officer
  • Steven Elder as Derek McCabe, Senior Vice President of Alban-X, the Scottish manufacturer of R-PAS drones

Production

The show is based on the success of recent programmes in a similar style, including Line of Duty and Bodyguard, which were released by the same production company, World Productions. The show was filmed in Scotland and is set there, with the events of the show taking place on HMS Vigil, a fictional Vanguard-class submarine of the Royal Navy.

The first series received generally positive reviews from critics, with praise for the writing, pace, acting, visual style, set design, tone, and atmosphere, but it was criticised for the dialogue, plot, and inaccuracies. In March 2022, Vigil was renewed for a second series, which premiered on 10 December 2023.

Filming for the second season took place during spring 2023, across Scotland, in locations including Glasgow, Coatbridge, Motherwell, Cumbernauld, Luss, Lanark, Blantyre and North Ayrshire.

Scenes were filmed in Casablanca and Rabat in Morocco to portray the fictional country of Wudyan.

Music

The programme’s theme music is the song “Fuel to the Fire” from the 2013 album Aventine by Danish singer, songwriter and musician Agnes Obel. Other music included in the series is composed by Afterhere (Berenice Scott and Glenn Gregory). Episode 4 includes the song “Anchor” by Welsh singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Novo Amor, released as a single in 2015 and included on his 2017 EP Bathing Beach.

Release

Episode 1 attracted an audience of 10.2 million viewers across its first seven days, making Vigil the BBC’s most watched new drama of the year.

The loss of the fictional trawler Mhairi Finnea in the series bears similarities to the sinking of the FV Antares by Royal Navy nuclear-powered submarine HMS Trenchant in the Firth of Clyde in 1990. Families of the Antares’ crew expressed upset at scenes of the Mhairi Finnea foundering; however, the BBC denied that the drama was inspired by or based on a specific real-life event.

Trivia

• There are 4 Vanguard class boats in the Royal Navy; Vanguard (S28), Victorious (S29), Vigilant (S30) and Vengeance (S31).
• Newsome’s rank slides (for no apparent reason) change from Commander (three stripes) to Captain (four stripes) and back several times throughout the series.
• This is the second time actor Adam James (Prentice) has appeared in a submarine thriller with him also having starred in Hunter Killer (2018).

Vigil Series

• Season 01 (2021):
  • Episode 01.
  • Episode 02.
  • Episode 03.
  • Episode 04.
  • Episode 05.
  • Episode 06.

• Season 02 (2023):
  • Episode 01.
  • Episode 02.
  • Episode 03.
  • Episode 04.
  • Episode 05.
  • Episode 06.

Production & Filming Details

• Director(s):
  • Isabelle Sieb … (3 episodes, 2021).
  • James Strong … (3 episodes, 2021).
• Producer(s):
  • Angie Daniell … producer (6 episodes, 2021).
  • Tom Edge … executive producer (6 episodes, 2021).
  • Jake Lushington … executive producer (6 episodes, 2021).
  • Donald MacKinnon … line producer (6 episodes, 2021).
  • James Strong … executive producer (6 episodes, 2021).
  • George Aza-Selinger … associate producer (1 episode, 2021).
  • Leslie Finlay … executive producer: Creative Scotland (1 episode, 2021).
  • Simon Heath … executive producer (1 episode, 2021).
  • Gaynor Holmes … executive producer: BBC (1 episode, 2021).
  • Roderick Seligman … executive producer: World Productions (1 episode, 2021).
• Writer(s):
  • Tom Edge … (creator) (6 episodes, 2021).
  • Tom Edge … (written by) (6 episodes, 2021).
  • George Aza-Selinger … (original idea) (5 episodes, 2021).
  • Chandni Lakhani … (written by) (1 episode, 2021).
  • Ed Macdonald … (written by) (1 episode, 2021).
• Music:
  • Glenn Gregory … (6 episodes, 2021).
  • Berenice Scott … (6 episodes, 2021).
• Cinematography:
  • Matt Gray … (3 episodes, 2021).
  • Ruairí O’Brien … (3 episodes, 2021).
• Editor(s):
  • Chris Buckland … (2 episodes, 2021).
  • Nikki McChristie … (2 episodes, 2021).
  • Steven Worsley … (2 episodes, 2021).
• Production:
  • World Productions.
• Distributor(s):
  • BBC One (UK) (TV).
• Release Date:
  • Season 01: 29 August 2021 to 26 September 2021.
  • Season 02: 10 December 2023 to 19 December 2023.
• Running Time: 60 minutes.
• Rating: G.
• Country: US.
• Language: English.

Video Link