Portrayal of life on a submarine in BBC drama doesn’t hold water, say naval experts
A BBC drama about a murder on board a submarine depicted the vessel as bigger than in real life, the set designer has admitted, as otherwise the characters would have been forced to walk in single file.
Vigil, the new series from World Productions, the company behind shows including Line of Duty and Bodyguard, has been billed by the BBC as its major new drama for Sunday nights. It features Suranne Jones as the submarine-bound protagonist DCI Amy Silva, Rose Leslie as her colleague Kirsten Longacre and Shaun Evans as coxswain Elliot Glover.
But after the first episode aired on Sunday, some questioned the show’s accuracy.
Philip D Grove, a naval historian, told The Daily Telegraph that the programme was at odds with reality from the first scene, in which Martin Compston’s junior submariner, Craig Burke, openly and angrily questions the authority of Paterson Joseph’s Capt Newsome after an apparent collision with a trawler. Mr Grove said: “A direct challenge from a junior figure would be a very rare occurrence. The captain of a vessel is not quite the godlike figure often depicted in Second World War films, but simultaneously respect of the chain of command is key within a ship, submarine or squadron.”
The premise of the show, of a detective being airlifted on to a submarine for an investigation, also goes against standard practice as such an event would be overseen by military police.
One retired submariner said: “The police would not normally have jurisdiction, as any incident on board a Royal Navy ship or submarine would come under naval or military discipline acts and be the subject of an investigation or Board of Inquiry, which could result in disciplinary action or a court martial.”
Cdr Alan Kennedy, who was part of the launch crew of HMS Dreadnought, Britain’s first nuclear submarine, told BBC Radio Four’s Today programme that he thought the show did a “very good job” of depicting the submarine. But he added: “Things are generally more crammed in than was shown. The only thing I think they got slightly wrong was it looked as though the thing was in semi-darkness most of the time, whereas you’ve got ample electrical power.”
The show’s set designer, Tom Sayer, said any changes to the reality was for “dramatic and cinematic effect”.
“You can’t really have a conversation between two actors if they’re walking exactly behind each other,” he told the Today programme.