In the eye of the storm
WITH an impending geomagnetic storm threatening the world and all of humanity, this thriller has the feel of a 1990s disaster action movie. Except that Armageddon is coming and unfortunately Bruce Willis is nowhere to be seen.
Instead the drama focuses on British Prime Minister Robert Sutherland, played by Robert Carlyle, as he leads Britain through this sudden and terrifying crisis.
It starts of course, as these things often do, with mutterings from the MET Office and someone who knows about magnetic storms being ignored.
Fraser Walker (Fortitude’s Richard Dormer), one of the best crisis contingency planners the country has ever known, is rather worried the storm could cause chaos.
“Oh a few singed eyebrows?” mocks Home Secretary Archie Glover, played with relish by Killing Eve’s David Haig. “It’s not a big meteorite or the sun blowing up!”
This of course is TV code for a distinct possibility that the sun will in fact blow up.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
COBRA is convened, which stands for Cabinet Office briefing room A – a council that meets in times of emergency.
Among the other senior politicians to look out for are Chief of Staff Anna Marshall, played by The Crown’s Victoria Hamilton.
They must all work together to help avert disaster as a national emergency unfolds. And of course, they’ve all got personal dramas going on that add to the tension.
This political thriller hardly has the wit of West Wing, and it’s all a bit ridiculous. But that doesn’t mean you won’t be absolutely hooked…