No./13 It’s Line Of Duty — but under water
How submarine crime thriller Vigil is leaning hard on its connections with the BBC’S biggest hit
THE STARTLINGLY THRILLING trailer for BBC One’s forthcoming series Vigil had a pretty decent showcase when it first aired on 2 May after the series finale of Line Of Duty, which, as you may have heard, was watched by a record-breaking 12.8 million people. The six-part drama also happens to be made by World Productions, the company behind Jed Mercurio’s TV phenomenon, and just to seal the LOD connection, Vigil also has a juicy role for DI Arnott himself, Martin Compston. Compston stars alongside Shaun Evans and Paterson Joseph as a Royal Navy crewmember on the submarine HMS Vigil, where a death onboard is investigated by Suranne Jones’ detective, Amy Silva.
The connections with the Beeb’s most high-profile smash aren’t something the creator and lead writer of the series, Tom Edge, is shying away from. Far from being daunted by the Line Of Duty connection, Edge (whose eclectic credits range from the screenplay for Judy Garland biopic Judy to his own Netflix comedy series Lovesick) is fully embracing it. “I think it’s good for us to be known as a show from the creators of Line Of Duty,” he says. “And the show originated when World Productions’ George Aza-selinger came to me with the basic premise of a police investigation on a vanguard-class submarine.” Edge drew on the wisdom of World’s drama veterans, such as long-time Line Of Duty exec producer Simon Heath and their Head Of Drama Jane Lushington, when he and his writing team were figuring out the tone and trajectory of the series. “It was one of the great draws for me that World have made so many great shows and have so much experience with this kind of twisty, turny story on this kind of scale,” says Edge
What separates this crime drama from Line
Of Duty, and indeed most police procedurals, is that much of the action takes place 200 metres below the surface of the sea. “We want to deliver on the claustrophobia and the loss of status that the submarine setting provides,” Edge explains. “The idea of an outsider entering this world, where there’s also a loss of trust among the crew, gave it an unique tone.” As for Martin Compston’s role, Edge is keeping the details deliberately vague. “I hesitate to get into the ins and outs of Martin’s character,” he says. “But it was definitely a case of no waistcoats required.”
VIGIL IS COMING SOON TO BBC ONE