Tense, claustrophobic, gripping, thrilling, realistic: just some of the adjectives no one is using to describe BBC1’s Sunday night submarine drama Vigil. Were one of Britain’s four Vanguard nuclear subs to launch retaliatory strikes on Broadcasting House and the show’s producer World Productions, I think it would be entirely reasonable and proportionate. It’s so amateurish and implausible it makes even the dreadful Sky One remake of Das Boot look classy by comparison.
Which is a shame because its screenwriter, Tom Edge, has done some good stuff in the past. Besides writing for The Crown and on the likeable J.K. Rowling detective series Strike, Edge created and wrote three series of the funny, charming comedy Lovesick (original title Scrotal Recall), starring Johnny Flynn. You can still probably find it on Netflix and it’s a far more rewarding use of your time than Vigil.
Someone depth charge HMS Vigil now and put us all out of our misery
What happened, I’m guessing, is what happens to so many talented writers when they get sucked into the primetime TV drama sausage machine.
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