Vigil- BBC crime/ thriller miniseries

[T & P]

The premise of this is intriguing enough: a sailor aboard one of the UK’s nuclear deterrence submarines is killed, and as they can’t stop their three-month mission under any circumstances, a police detective is flown to it to sail along and conduct the investigation.

A bit of a marmite reception so far: the usually po-faced Guardian gave the first episode five stars, whilst the Torygraph described it as ‘miserable’. Has anyone checked it out yet?

 

[Steel Icarus]

Planning to, so go easy on the spoilers peeps

 

[Supine]

I enjoyed the first one. Will definitely be watching more.

 

[The39thStep]

Haven’t seen it but a mate in England text me today to say worth watching

 

[moochedit]

Spoiler

were you expecting the steve arnott actor to get killed off in the first 5 mins?

 

[cupid_stunt]

I've literally just this moment set it to record, I'll have to catch-up on the first one, on iPlayer.

 

[danny la rouge]

The premise of this is intriguing enough: a sailor aboard one of the UK’s nuclear deterrence submarines is killed, and as they can’t stop their three-month mission under any circumstances, a police detective is flown to it to sail along and conduct the investigation.

A bit of a marmite reception so far: the usually po-faced Guardian gave the first episode five stars, whilst the Torygraph described it as ‘miserable’. Has anyone checked it out yet?

Some of it was filmed very near my house. I saw the filming going on. So I happen to know there’s a scene where

Spoiler

Suranne Jones knocks on a door

 

[quiet guy]

Yes I watched it. It has a mix of storylines and a good mix of actors

 

[planetgeli]

Good start, dipped, got ok again. Will keep watching.

 

[marty21]

Liked the 1st episode

 

[MrSki]

Second one tonight so caught up with first one earlier. Has potential with a good cast.

 

[D'wards]

Spoiler

I think the series will be about the wider implications of the necessity of a nuclear deterrent, rather than a police procedural

 

[gosub]

Spoiler

I think the series will be about the wider implications of the necessity of a nuclear deterrent, rather than a police procedural

Nah H has upped his game , the OCG has gone nuclear

 

[T & P]

Reasonably enjoyed the first episode. I can only imagine the Telegraph hack who described it as miserable is your typical right wing Armed Forces fanboy who’s taken offence at the very concept of any Forces personnel behaving in a less than exemplary manner.

 

[T & P]

Enjoyed ep2 as well. I don’t think it’ll turn out to be amazing but it’s decent enough so far.

I was reading the other day a companion article on what really happens in real life emergencies aboard the sub on duty. Apparently there are no interruptions to the mission unless it’s a life or death situation for an injured crew mate. There’s also a complete news embargo. If the wife and kids of someone on board were killed in a car crash, he wouldn’t be told at all- let alone allowed off- until the three-month mission had ran its course.

 

[A380]

It’s fun stuff. Fantasy policing and fantasy military stuff, not pretending to have any connections to reality so possible to watch without going ‘that’s wrong’ ‘that would never happen’ every 20 seconds …

I suspect there might be some debates on the nature of the deterrent through debates between the characters at some point.

Also a 50/50 chance that the cop will end up driving the submarine at some point.

Only a 1 in 100 chance that the cop and the captain will have an argument over which was the best Silver Surfer though, mores the pity.

 

[A380]

…There’s also a complete news embargo. If the wife and kids of someone on board were killed in a car crash, he wouldn’t be told at all- let alone allowed off- until the three-month mission had ran its course.

You get a choice, at the start of the cruise you can say wether you want any bad news given to you when it comes in or held till just before the return to port.

It’s an interesting question, what would urbs do?

 

[T & P]

You get a choice, at the start of the cruise you can say wether you want any bad news given to you when it comes in or held till just before the return to port.

It’s an interesting question, what would urbs do?

Ah, the article I read suggested there was no such option regarding bad news- that it was policy to keep any bad news that might influence morale from reaching the sailors. Which would make more sense than giving them such option. I’d imagine being told your entire family has died in an accident but you must miss their funeral and carry on working as normal for several weeks would render the sailor in question unfit for duty if not a liability to the crew.

 

[gosub]

It’s fun stuff. Fantasy policing and fantasy military stuff, not pretending to have any connections to reality so possible to watch without going ‘that’s wrong’ ‘that would never happen’ every 20 minutes…

I suspect there might be some debates on the nature of the deterrent through debates between the characters at some point.

Also a 50/50 chance that the cop will end up driving the submarine at some point.

Only a 1 in 100 chance that the cop and the captain will have an argument over which was the best Silver Surfer though, mores the pity.

Have been getting the impression the submaire adviser probably went home every night thinking "all I can do is offer advice its not my fault if the director doesn't take it" unless they got Ringo Starr

 

[belboid]

It seems an incredibly roomy sub. I know we need to be a bit generous to the director, but nowhere does anyone appear to be crammed in. I am dubious about the allowance of alcohol in board too.

It’s already quite silly, but entertaining enough for a Sunday.

 

[Wilf]

It seems an incredibly roomy sub. I know we need to be a bit generous, to the director, but nowhere does anyone appear to be crammed in. I am dubious about the allowance of alcohol in board too.

I noticed that! They began with the usual attempt at showing how crowded things are, 'watch your head', tiers of bunks, nose near the ceiling etc. After that, the only bit that close to full was the main 'deck'/room/periscopey place.

 

[A380]

It seems an incredibly roomy sub. I know we need to be a bit generous to the director, but nowhere does anyone appear to be crammed in. I am dubious about the allowance of alcohol in board too.

It’s already quite silly, but entertaining enough for a Sunday.

The RN lets people drink. It’s not like the Americans where you have responsibility for literally being able to end civilisation with the turn of a key but can’t be trusted with a Budweiser….

 

[A380]

Have been getting the impression the submaire adviser probably went home every night thinking "all I can do is offer advice its not my fault if the director doesn't take it" unless they got Ringo Starr

Given your username, was it you?

 

[A380]

I read a book about a year ago (My Bloody Efforts Steven Bridgeman) by a chap who’d been an artificer on British attack nuclear submarines. Fascinating, but the ‘pinnacle’ of his career was when they had a reactor fault that they couldn’t diagnose remotely. After trying everything else he and an officer had to unbolt the rector compartment and go inside to have a look - and fix the fault. Read like something from a Tom Clancey novel…

 

[gosub]

The RN lets people drink. It’s not like the Americans where you have responsibility for literally being able to end civilisation with the turn of a key but can’t be trusted with a Budweiser….

Its no cost ncedence that back when the Royal Navy ruled out he waves all RN got rum, and now they don't they don't. You try doing shit like a ke the WW2 artic convoys sober

 

[Teaboy]

Dunno what to make of it really.

Weird James Bond style opening credits. Perhaps its was the presence of Suranne Jones as a cop, or the Scottish accents or maybe just the series of Police show clichés but it felt the James Bond start gave way quickly to A Touch of Cloth.

But maybe because it was a cliché check list and because the situational set-up was pretty absurd it was quite easy to let go of any pretence of reality and just enjoy a whodunnit.

I'll carry on watching.

 

[smmudge]

Reasonably enjoyed the first episode. I can only imagine the Telegraph hack who described it as miserable is your typical right wing Armed Forces fanboy who’s taken offence at the very concept of any Forces personnel behaving in a less than exemplary manner.

He should carry on watching as I find invariably these sort of programs make you think they're taking a critical look, but end up entirely supporting the establishment. It will probably be the protestors what did the murder and all the navy's problems could be fixed if only they had more money and nuclear warheads.

 

[T & P]

Enjoyed this week’s episode as well, even if you can see some of the twists coming…

I wonder if the Royal Navy has suspended their regular TV advert campaign on other channels whilst this series is running

 

[A380]

Enjoyed this week’s episode as well, even if you can see some of the twists coming…

I wonder if the Royal Navy has suspended their regular TV advert campaign on other channels whilst this series is running

what, the :"I was born in Peebles, but I was murrrrrrrrrdered in the Royal Navy" ones?

 

[Kevbad the Bad]

OK, can anyone tell me why would a copper who thinks she's being followed drive to the top of a multi storey car park, where no-one else is present, and then get out of her car alone?


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