VIGIL - starts Sunday 29th Aug. BBC 1 - TV PACE. NO SPOILERS

[Blondeshavemorefun]

The six-part drama from World Productions (Line Of Duty, The Pembrokeshire Murders, Save Me, Bodyguard) stars Suranne Jones, Rose Leslie, Shaun Evans, Martin Compston and Paterson Joseph.

When a crew member is found dead on board the Trident nuclear submarine HMS Vigil, police in Scotland are called in to investigate. The catch? The UK’s nuclear deterrent must remain unbroken, so the submarine stays on patrol and Detective Chief Inspector Amy Silva (Suranne Jones) must go aboard to begin an investigation. Although the death was written off as an accidental overdose, Amy suspects foul play. But when the crew close ranks in the face of Amy’s questioning, a new threat overshadows her inquiry.

Vigil
Vigil’s stellar ensemble cast also features Anjli Mohindra, Connor Swindells, Adam James, Gary Lewis, Stephen Dillane, Lolita Chakrabarti, Daniel Portman, Lorne MacFadyen and Lauren Lyle.

The fictional six-part series is written and created by Bafta nominated writer Tom Edge, with episodes by Ed Macdonald and Chandni Lakhani. It is directed by Bafta winner James Strong, and Bafta nominee Isabelle Sieb. Vigil is produced by Angie Daniell, executive produced by Simon Heath and Jake Lushington for World Productions, Gaynor Holmes for the BBC, James Strong and Tom Edge.

Vigil
Vigil is set and was filmed in Scotland, and is supported by the National Lottery through Screen Scotland. International distribution is handled by ITV Studios.

I’m certain man in mask at end was Coxswain. I paused it, and it’s clearly Shaun Evans.

@JoyDivisionOvenGlovesx

I’m certain man in mask at end was Coxswain. I paused it, and it’s clearly Shaun Evans.

If that's the case, is he the baddie trying to do her in, or the goodie saving her from some sort of (chemical?) threat?

Or saving her, because that keeps a bigger game in play?

I don’t think they know is a drill until the end. The whole idea is it becomes so second nature that no one sits there going oh we might kill thousands of people and cause world war 3 shall we or shan’t we? I don’t even think the captain knows or they might chicken out but I stand to be corrected. Only real codes would set them off, but everything else same.

Aren’t they together? When detective said goodbye to Suranne at the helipad they seemed an item?

If she dropped the custard why was it so close to her face?

Are goldfish only for a certain rank? I think they belong to the captain. So many questions

She brought her up to her boss as someone she knows but been some Nasty break up or something as boss wasn’t keen. She didn’t say hey my GF would be perfect for this.

They seemed really cold in the car like not spoke ages and no fond goodbye either. Plus she had give her the keys fed the Cat when it looked like she previously had lived there anyway.

Channel5 now (Mon 9pm) documentary 'Submarine: Life Under The Waves'

Seems much more jolly than Vigil already!

@JoyDivisionOvenGlovesx

I’m certain man in mask at end was Coxswain. I paused it, and it’s clearly Shaun Evans.

We need a pause pic 😂

I'm watching the submarine documentary. One of the fridges has just broken and they've had to pump away the poisonous gas it was emitting. Is that how the dodgy chef lady died? It definitely feels like the writer of Vigil has seen this documentary.

This documentary is making me think the 'things going disastrously wrong on a nuclear submarine' angle of Vigil isn't that far-fetched.

I just came on to say about the documentary, seems much more fun/bearable on an actual sub - I loved it!!

Just managed to catch up with all 4 episodes & want to watch the other 2 now, Sunday & next Sunday are too far away.
I don't know why but I have a feeling that Lieutenant Commander Erin Browning (Lolita Chakrabarti) is either not who she says she is or has a secret.

I've also just caught up, I think the Coxswain is the Russian agent and he is using/blackmailing various people, the chef he probably blackmailed to be involved in some way in exchange for helping her son, he killed her by poisoning her (which is why he's wearing the mask to avoid contact with the poison), he knows Amy is on them because of the message for the chef to report to the captain. Don't know if he's too obvious a baddie though. Have a feeling maybe Walsh (think that's his name, the one who she talked down from shooting himself) will save her from the Coxswain poisoning her at the last moment and he'll cop it. Whatever happens can't wait for the next episode!

@EsmaCannonball

I'm watching the submarine documentary. One of the fridges has just broken and they've had to pump away the poisonous gas it was emitting. Is that how the dodgy chef lady died? It definitely feels like the writer of Vigil has seen this documentary.

Ooh so maybe an accidental fridge death!

Can’t keep up with it.
I was a bit confused but I am now convinced that the captain and the coxswain and the woman who does stuff at a computer and was quite rude to Amy in the last episode are all wrong ‘uns

Or the Russian asset sabotaged the fridge to make it look like an accident.

If there is a Russian saboteur on board it strikes me that he or she is constantly risking their own life by damaging the submarine. Either this person is absolutely dedicated to Russia or the Russians have a massive hold over them.

Me and DD have been following quite well until now but sundays episode had loads of new strands that I'm too thick to make sense of
I thought it was the Cox'n at the end, I'm pretty sure it's not walsh because the person had a different physique (Walsh is stockier)
On a completely unrelated note, in episode 1 , I mentioned to DH that the senior civil policeman was the dad in Billy Elliott. DH apparently noticed it on sunday and then told me as if it's a new piece of info. He is no help whatsoever trying to follow this sort of thing (admittedly knowing that's Billy Elliotts dad has no bearing on how well or not I am following the plot! )

The chef's death could be a coincidental accident (red herrings aplenty) but I think it's more likely to be malicious, especially as we know there is an unusual poison on board.

Wearing the respirator might simply be because that's the only face covering that could possibly be explained away, especially if the 'cover story' for the death is going to be fridge gas poisoning (baddie looks like saviour, Silva looks like another fridge casualty)

I think we need to learn more about the possible roles of the captain and the engineering officer - they could have been manipulated as unwitting cats paws into actions that further the plan of the Russians. After all, it's not that easy to recruit someone to be a traitor, so I doubt there's lots of them on the boat who are actively and wittingly furthering the Russian agenda. But actions (such as that of the XO?) which he claimed were done for other reasons could have been very helpful. XO said he was posted to Vigil because of concerns over the captain (and the beardy heroin-bringer also said he owed him one after Port Haven) so I think there's more to come.

Did we ever get a good explanation about why he brought the heroin in to the boat in the first place? And who might have known about it before Burke's death, or is that just going to be an annoying loose end?

I think the series will end with a strong implication that there must be a Russian asset shore-based, senior enough in the Navy to carry out useful actions (like convenient postings, and info about upcoming manoeuvres), plus possible further Establishment figures involved, and that will be the basis for any future series

@EsmaCannonball

Or the Russian asset sabotaged the fridge to make it look like an accident.

If there is a Russian saboteur on board it strikes me that he or she is constantly risking their own life by damaging the submarine. Either this person is absolutely dedicated to Russia or the Russians have a massive hold over them.

Or is Russian?

Idea seeded by the GRU officer having a convincing British persona to slip in to, when he's not being Embassy staff

Look at the old Cold War stories of long term 'sleepers'

Someone who lives for years in their assumed identity, preparing for the active role. We've had nuclear submarines for decades,, so this plan could have been a long time in the making. They'd need flawless English, and a fake identity that's strong enough to have not been spotted when they joined the Navy (bluntly, using a dead baby identity)

Beardy heroin-user is a candidate, as we already know he says he was brought up in care, so he has a reason for lack of family ties. But I'm not sure - his heroin-using brother seems real enough, and he appears to have been the saviour of Port Haven. We don't know enough about the life history of others to have any real idea.

Happy family snap of DW/DP and DC does rule out the coxswain - we all know about the British undercover policemen who had relationships and children in their cover identities.

The flashbacks will have a point I.e. one of them risks their life for the other type thing or does something extreme that you wouldn’t do for a mere colleague but would do for someone you’re still in love with… at least it’s a change from the more obvious storyline of which bloke will she fall for while in close quarters trope that a lot of female leads/characters get stuck with in storylines…

A lot of what they’ve put in has happened in real life ( crew getting drugged up/ pissed in port - tho they were all fired -, crew waving a gun around on a sub, crew member killing a commander while in port. crew disciplined for having a relationship onboard)
But hopefully it wouldn’t all happen at once on the same sub!

Happy family snap of DW/DP and DC does rule out the coxswain

Not necessarily - remember The Americans! Two sleeper agents posing as a married couple with kids.

@TokyoSushi

I just came on to say about the documentary, seems much more fun/bearable on an actual sub - I loved it!!

I watched that too, far more drama than there is on Vigil !!

Other posters may have mentioned that but not seen Sunday's episode yet so not reading the rest of the thread yet

@KillingMeDeftly

Happy family snap of DW/DP and DC does rule out the coxswain

Not necessarily - remember The Americans! Two sleeper agents posing as a married couple with kids.

Sorry - meant to type doesn't - hope the rest of that post makes more sense now!

If my theory is right, my guess is that something in the Burke files (which deskbound copper guy is presumably going through assiduously) will lead them to look at the background of a crew member and spot an anomaly and MI5 will confirm likely Russian sleeper. So we will know, but Silva won't, who not to trust just as things get even more tense under water

‘ KillingMeDeftly
Happy family snap of DW/DP and DC does rule out the coxswain

Not necessarily - remember The Americans! Two sleeper agents posing as a married couple with kids.’

And remember the real life cops here in the U.K. who went under cover with activists and had relationships and kids with them without the women ever knowing they were undercover police…

And remember the real life cops here in the U.K. who went under cover with activists and had relationships and kids with them without the women ever knowing they were undercover police…

Yes, that's what I was thinking of when I wrote: we all know about the British undercover policemen who had relationships and children in their cover identities