Vigil (2021)

Watchseries; Showed some initial promise offering a murder mystery onboard a submarine. Descended into an incomprehensible flash back/forward mess involving a lesbian relationship and ticking a host of other BBC boxes. Lasted until about 10 minutes into Episode 4. Screened out, I know, but looks like plenty of others were too.

Showed some initial promise offering a murder mystery onboard a submarine. Descended into an incomprehensible flash back/forward mess involving a lesbian relationship and ticking a host of other BBC boxes. Lasted until about 10 minutes into Episode 4. Screened out, I know, but looks like plenty of others were too.

Vigil watchseries. If you are not a pedant on navy protocol in the event of a suspicious death onboard a nuclear submarine then this series offers sufficient drama, red herrings and emotional content to earn its prime time slots. It's a drama afterall, not a fact finding documentary and the cast play their respective roles very well.

Could writing get any worse ?

Here you have a story that is fraught with every lazy, generic ingredient one can imagine, and then it's executed poorly by an even more unimaginative and cliched script .

Along with the filming and editing choices made, you end up with a skeleton story that never forms a coherent tale , just randomly jumping from one unconvincing event to the next .

Add a cast that barely goes through the motions, with a lead actress devoid of any presence or skill, and you get a TV show that at no time is credible or involving .

What was billed as a promising drama turns out to be a farce. Sailors wandering about drinking whisky on a nuclear sub,helping themselves to firearms when they feel like it! Cops driving along shouting where's my back up every 15 seconds! And many more as in previous comments!

So many reviews here, posted after the first episode aired, are heavily criticising the programme because someone wore the wrong sort of hat. What next? Star Trek is awful because space monsters don't live on Mars?

I don't care about the navy, what hats they wear, how they steer submarines around and other finicky details. I do care about entertainment and watching enjoyable shows. I am quite able to suspend disbelief and enjoy all kinds of fiction, including Vigil.

So, three episodes in, this is shaping up to be a very engaging drama. What is particularly impressive is the pacing. It's a show that takes you along with a solid story and great acting.

If you can't get beyond the fact someone has buttoned up their shirt incorrectly then this is not for you. If you are happy to enjoy a fictional drama for what it is, give it a go.

The way the majority of crew including officers act is completely unbelievable. They show no respect for civilan characters especially commonwealth police and would all be all out of a job if this actually occurred. For a serious drama, I feel sorry for the navy as their attitude could be perceived as disgusting.