Vigil

2021– · Crime, Drama · 5 seasons · ★ 7.2

Returning series

+16

Synopsis of Vigil

Scottish police inspector Amy Silva, played by Suranne Jones, is assigned to HMS Vigil, a British Royal Navy nuclear submarine armed with missiles, to investigate a death on board. The incident occurs shortly after the mysterious disappearance of a Scottish fishing boat. The story takes place in Scotland and the surrounding sea, mainly inside the submarine. Silva works with a crew accustomed to secrecy and discipline, while her colleagues on land, including Kirsten Longacre, pursue their own line of inquiry. Both threads eventually pit the police against the Royal Navy and MI5, the British security service. The series was created by Tom Edge and airs on BBC One.

«The deeper you go, the darker it gets.»

5seasons

18episodes

58 minper episode

7.2audience scoreTMDB · 290 votes

7.4IMDb rating32,659 votes

Latest episode aired

3x06 · Episodio 6

September 14, 2026. No date has been set for the next one yet.

Seasons of Vigil

Season 12021 · 6 ep. · ★ 6.5

Season 22023 · 6 ep. · ★ 5.7

Season 32026 · 6 ep. · ★ 5.9 Season 4Season 5

Cast by Vigil

Suranne JonesAmy Silva18 episodes

Rose LeslieKirsten Longacre18 episodes

Gary LewisColin Robertson15 episodes

Orla RussellPoppy Silva13 episodes

Dominic MafhamSir Ian Downing8 episodes

Oscar SalemCaptain Sattam Abdul Kader6 episodes

Shaun EvansGlover6 episodes

Paterson JosephNewsome6 episodes

Adam JamesPrentice6 episodes

Connor SwindellsHadlow6 episodes

Lolita ChakrabartiBranning6 episodes

Anjli MohindraTiffany Docherty6 episodes

Lorne MacFadyenDoward6 episodes

Stephen DillaneShaw6 episodes

Lois ChimimbaTara Kierly6 episodes

Bobby RainsburyCronin6 episodes

Christian OrtegaAnderton6 episodes

Romola GaraiEliza Russell6 episodes

Dougray ScottMarcus Grainger6 episodes

Chris JenksCallum Barker6 episodes

Amir El-MasryDaniel Ramsay6 episodes

Jonathan AjayiWes Harper6 episodes

Nebras JamaliAli Bilali6 episodes

Steven MillerMark Cunningham6 episodes

Shannon HayesNicole Lawson5 episodes

David ElliotRoss Sutherland5 episodes

Hiba MedinaSabiha Chapman4 episodes

Tommy Sim'aanFiras Zaman4 episodes

Noof OusellamPaul Townsend4 episodes

Angus YellowleesClothier3 episodes

Jordan YoungCompton3 episodes

Steven ElderDerek McCabe3 episodes

Dan LiHennessey3 episodes

Naomi StirratArlene Royce2 episodes

Malek AlkoniFaisal Ghazali2 episodes

Khalid LaithAbdulah Ghazali2 episodes

Kamal MustaffaiMutaz2 episodes

Laura MillerNews Presenter2 episodes

Craig Anthony-KellyGunner PatrickEpisode 1

Martin BellGunner JansenEpisode 1

Technical Details

Created by: Tom Edge
Address: Andy De Emmony, Isabelle Sieb, James Strong, Joss Agnew, Faye Gilbert
Writing: Tom Edge, Ed MacDonald, Chandni Lakhani, Maryam Hamidi, Matilda Wnek
Photography: Matt Gray, Nic Lawson, Ruairí O'Brien
Production: Angie Daniell, Marcus Wilson
Executive Producer: Gaynor Holmes, Simon Heath, Jake Lushington, Tom Edge
Production companies: World Productions, BBC
Network or Platform: BBC One
Country: United Kingdom
Original Language: English
Premiere: August 29, 2021
Latest episode aired: September 14, 2026 (3x06)
Status: Returning series
Type: Fiction
Awards: Nominated for 2 BAFTA Awards; 4 wins and 10 nominations in total.
Links: IMDb · TMDB · Official Website

Trivia about Vigil

The first episode drew 10.2 million viewers in its first seven days, making the series the BBC's most-watched new drama that year.

Production designer Tom Sayer built highly elaborate studio sets to recreate the interior of the submarine.

The opening theme uses the song "Fuel to Fire" from the album Aventine (2013) by Danish singer Agnes Obel.

To portray the fictional country of Wudyan in season two, scenes were shot in Casablanca and Rabat, Morocco.

Critic Hugo Rifkind of The Times called the idea of setting a whodunnit on a submarine "a masterstroke."

The Telegraph reported that the series' naval adviser was an SNP councillor and anti-nuclear activist, which prompted accusations of bias.

Season three was filmed in Svalbard and Scotland, and the BBC confirmed its premiere on BBC iPlayer and BBC One for August 30, 2026. It will have six episodes and new cast additions such as Jeppe Beck Laursen and Naomi Yang.

Season three will move the action to an Arctic research station and reunite Suranne Jones and Rose Leslie as Amy Silva and Kirsten Longacre.

Sources: Wikipedia (English)