ATTACK OF THE DRONES

She solved a murder on a nuclear sub in a thrilling first series. Now Suranne Jones finds herself in mortal danger once more – this time from the air

VIGIL Sunday to Tuesday, BBC1, 9pm

Millions were gripped by the original Vigil, in which Suranne Jones’s murder investigator battled sinister sailors, political shenanigans – and nearly drowned in a torpedo tube – in a Trident nuclear submarine.

Now she’s back, but this time the action takes place not below the waves but up in the sky, in the frightening world of modern drone warfare.

From the makers of Line Of Duty, the first series was a huge hit for the BBC in 2021 and won an International Emmy.

Jones played DCI Amy Silva, who boarded the sub to investigate a mysterious death. Meanwhile, her ex-girlfriend DS Kirsten Longacre (Rose Leslie, right, with Jones) undertook the inquiries back on dry land.

The pair had genuine chemistry and the question of whether Silva and Longacre would get back together was almost as gripping as the tense and dramatic whodunnit.

At the start of the second series, the couple are romantic and professional partners, and Longacre, now a DI, is seven months pregnant. (Leslie actually was pregnant with her second child with husband Kit Harington during filming – they met when playing lovers Ygritte and Jon Snow in Game Of Thrones, and their baby girl was born in July.)

This time around it’s Britain’s airforce in the spotlight. Representatives from Wudyan, a fictional, repressive Middle Eastern country, attend a demonstration of a military ‘remotely piloted aircraft system’ (RPAS) – otherwise known as a drone – on a Scottish airbase.

The demo is deliberately sabotaged when an unknown person seizes control of the drone and uses it to shoot dead seven people and injure several others. The MoD asks Silva to investigate.

The incident places a strain on Britain’s relationship with Wudyan. A multi-billion-pound arms contract is on the line. Could the test have been sabotaged for political reasons?

Silva and Longacre are forced to carry out their investigations in different locations and, before long, they find themselves in mortal danger.

The charismatic two leads are joined by another couple of big names – Dougray Scott and Romola Garai, both as airforce officers.

The action clips along at a good pace and there are similar themes to the first series: murky geopolitics, the tension between the military and civilian way of doing things, and questions of where loyalties lie.

But for most viewers the appeal will lie in the welcome return of Suranne Jones, who’ll need all her wits and considerable toughness to navigate a plot with more twists and turns than a sidewinder missile.