Brief Story Line
Sam Nelson (Idris Elba - Extraction 2, The Jungle Book etc) was a corporate business negotiator who was having estranged relationship with his wife Marsha (Christine Adams - Black Lightning TV series, The Unholy etc). After a business trip, Sam went on a flight from Dubai to London with more than 200 passengers on board including Stuart (Neil Maskell - King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, Kill List etc) in Business class, Terry (Jasper Britton), Lewis (Jack McMullen - Grange Hill TV series etc), Jaime (Aimée Kelly - The Duke etc) and the others in Economy class. Unfortunately though, the plane was hijacked not long after taking off. The pilot Robin (Ben Miles - The Crown TV series etc) and the flight attendants such as Collette (Kate Phillips - Miss Scarlet and the Duke TV series etc) tried their best to hold on.
Meanwhile in London, Detective Daniel (Max Beesley - Jamestown TV series etc) was being asked to find out if there was any possibility of the plane having problems and asked the help from DCI Zahra (Archie Panjabi - The Good Wife TV series etc) who worked in counter terrorism. Alice (Eve Myles - Torchwood TV series etc) the Air Traffic Controller in London airport was also suspicious about the flight and ended up coordinating with the counter terrorism team to handle the situation.
As time was running out, Sam was working his way to coordinate with the hijackers for a peaceful end. So how would the story conclude? You could find out in this 7 part mini series.
End of Brief Story Line
This series has got me hooked even from the first episode. The early part where we were introduced to some of the main characters were done quite smoothly at a steady pace but not too slow that made it boring. It did not take too long for the hijacking to happen and though few things did not seem too surprising, but in general it was the nice start that I liked. In the subsequent episodes, the intensity was felt even more which made me could not stop watching.
But since it was already late night, I only managed to watch till the fourth episode. As I was not able to watch on the following night due to work, I could only continue it yesterday and finished the remaining 3 episodes immediately. With varying duration of 44-50 minutes, it should not have taken that long to finish if I had watched it during the weekend. Anyway, the series actually did not have that many action scenes, but the suspense was very well crafted. I also had a feeling of similarity with that wonderful series 24 as there was a strong sense of real-time since the timeline of 7 hours flight was spread through 7 episodes, although it was not exactly match up to the minutes and seconds.
What I liked about the series was not only there were twists (some I could spot easily) but there were one or two shocking ones (that twist in the 6th episode was amazing, but not the one that was kind of obvious). And the intensity was felt through out the whole series up to almost literally the last minute. So I really have to applaud the series creators George Kay (Lupin TV series, Criminal series etc) who was also credited as the writer and Jim Field Smith (director of She's Out of My League) for their awesome work. Jim was the director of episode 1, 2, 3, 6 and 7 while the remaining were directed by Mo Ali. And what amazed me even more was the series did not seem to be based on any books or remake from other series.
The cast did brilliant job as well with their convincing portrayal of the characters, from the hijackers, to the passengers and the flight attendants. There were many other people in support or recurring roles aside from the ones I mentioned above, such as Hattie Morahan (Enola Holmes etc) as the British Foreign Secretary Louise, Neil Stuke as the Home Secretary, Kaisa Hammarlund as first officer Anna, Jeremy Ang Jones as one of the flight attendant Arthur and many more.
The drama was felt stronger towards the end with a lot more emotions shown, while the intensity was perfectly maintained. I do not know how many times I told my wife that the series was very suspenseful. Overall it is a fantastic thriller series that I was so delighted to have given a try. One of the most thrilling and satisfying series I had ever watched. Despite few shortcomings like a bit of predictability in the plot or the ending that felt too abrupt & not conclusive enough for certain people, but in general I really enjoyed this one. It is definitely a recommended thriller series that was well received by critics too. So you can certainly give this one a try. It's available on Apple TV +.
Mike's movie moments rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
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