Vigil boss says Suranne Jones’s Amy ‘butts heads’ with new character

There’s tension on the horizon for DCI Silva.

By Freya Beard

Published: Sunday, 10 December 2023 at 07:00 AM

The follow-up to BBC One’s naval-based thriller series Vigil promises new opposition for Suranne Jones’s DCI Amy Silva.

Season 1 saw her grappling with her PTSD from the tragic car accident that led to the death of her boyfriend and in turn slowly developing feelings for her colleague DI Longacre (Rose Leslie).

We see the pair tenderly embrace at the end of the first season in a moment that is a collective exhale for the audience following the pacy action of the final episode.

The new season, set at a Scottish military base following a spate of suspicious deaths, promises a new challenge to Silva’s authority in the form of Squadron Leader, Eliza Russell (Romola Garai).

When interviewed about the upcoming second season, executive producer Jake Lushington told press including RadioTimes.com: “(In season 1) there had been a lot of butting heads with all the boys on the submarine… we were really interested in seeing a different clash between two female characters who both thought they should be a challenge. And that reflected some of the things that were going on between the two protagonists.”

Season 1’s pressurised, closed-vesselled setting enhances viewers’ sense of the oppressive, claustrophobic atmosphere in the aftermath of Chief Petty Officer Craig’s (Martin Compston) death.

Yet, further discussing season 2, Lushington commented on how the contrasting open space setting creates a more nuanced paranoid atmosphere: “This season, they’re very exposed.

“We’re in big landscapes with things in the sky… there’s a line that Eliza says to Amy, ‘It’s different from being in a submarine, here you are in plain sight and everybody’s watching what you do, the regime’s watching, you can cause a diplomatic incident in a second’.

“So that level of exposure in terms of frailty, vulnerability, sort of infects the whole season if you like. So that’s what’s great is that the domain leads you to themes.”