Review-Peacock Originals HMS Vigil Blends Murder, Conspiracy, Nuclear Submarines and Romance Into One Intriguing Scottish Crime Drama

Set in Scottland, this fictional drama also referred to as a Police Procedural (that’s a new one for me) brings together all the elements of a crime/murder mystery drama needed for a thoroughly enjoyable series. The story revolves around the murder of Chief Petty Officer Craig Burke (Martin Compston), a Royal Navy officer aboard the HMS Vigil, a nuclear-powered Vanguard-class ballistic missile submarine, who dies in his bunk shortly after the sub accidentally drags a fishing trawler underwater, killing the entire crew. To keep things quiet and even-handed, the British Navy decides to bring aboard a civilian, Detective Chief Inspector Amy Silva (Suranne Jones ) of the Scottish Police Service to investigate the officer’s suspicious death with the Navy pledging their full support and co-operation in the investigation. What Inspector Silva uncovers will haunt the Navy for years to come.

The environmental costs to using aging nuclear sub technology are not lost on the Navy, but the submarine’s capabilities at being an intimidating defense against attacking forces isn’t either, which means that while the subs might leak things they shouldn’t and might blow gaskets that kill crew members, they will still be employed as cost-effective defense measures (cheaper to fix than replace) while the Navy spends both time and money squashing bad press about its fleet and crew. In an effort to expose the Navy’s coverups a protest village springs up near the naval base, a village that is supported and partially funded by a local politician who has made it his life’s work to rid the Scottish military of the nuclear submarines with little results. Insert into the village a few unhinged conspiracy theorists that are willing to do anything for news coverage of them exposing the supposed murder of an officer aboard Vigil, and everyone has a catastrophic problem.

When the inspector boards Vigil she finds that the crew is extremely loyal to each other to a fault and willing to impede a police investigation to protect each other, but while she is trying to unpack the events that led up to the officer’s death, the sub begins to malfunction, multiple times, and it’s soon discovered that someone onboard is sabotaging Vigil in order to force it to the surface for reasons they can only speculate on. While Amy is aboard Vigil, back on land Detective Sergeant Kirsten Longacre (Rose Leslie )  is working in tandem with Detective Silva to get as much additional information about Officer Burke as possible including the recent death of his girlfriend (who lived in the protest village), the leaks to the press over both murders, and the missing pieces to the official story regarding the accident aboard Vigil resulting in the death of 2 officers (of which the Navy concealed) before Amy’s time on Vigil is over. While all of this is going on, a very intense backstory of Amy and Kristen’s former romance is woven throughout the episodes, along with the traumatic car accident Amy was in that led to the death of her fiance and separation from her future step-daughter, causing her to suffer from bouts of claustrophobia which makes life aboard Vigil that much more stressful. It’s a lot to maintain but the writers do an excellent job balancing the past and the present throughout the series, and that’s no small feat.

If your entertainment vices bend towards anything mentioned in this review, I think you’ll really enjoy Vigil. It’s somewhat lowkey as far as visuals go, and most of the key cast speak with a heavy Scottish accent so it might take a minute to adjust to the dialog, but it’s worth it.

Vigil can be streamed here

For more information on Vigil’s cast and crew, you can visit the IMDb here