The Third Day

Neon, from Tuesday

Jude Law is crouched next to a small, picturesque waterfall. He is listening to Dog Days Are Over by Florence & the Machine on his headphones. And he’s absolutely sobbing his guts out.

What devastating life events have led him to this moment? We do find out, eventually, and more astute viewers may even figure it out straight away. But the source of his grief feels like too much of a spoiler just to give away.

Part of the fun of a show like The Third Day is not knowing why things are happening, what’s real and what’s not. It’s one of those series where the less you know going into it, the better; where the slightly surreal and spooky tone are enough to carry you along regardless.

All you should really need to know before diving in is it’s basically like a modern version of British horror classic The Wicker Man. Or at least, it starts out that way. A bloke is drawn to a small, insular island community where the locals are intent on preserving old traditions; there’s a festival, things get progressively stranger and more sinister, madness may or may not set in.

This series isn’t quite so straightforward, though. It’s split into three distinct parts — the first three episodes (“Summer”) follow Sam (Jude Law), while the final three (“Winter”) follow Helen (Naomie Harris), both of whom find themselves on the mysterious Osea (a real island in Essex, accessible only via an ancient Roman causeway).

In between these there’s a one-off live special “Autumn”, which series creators Felix Barrett and Dennis Kelly have described as a "major immersive theatre event".

That sounds both extremely pretentious for a TV series, and like something we definitely don’t want to miss.