Review – The Tunnel: Sabotage

The Tunnel: Sabotage is a new drama that begins on Sky Atlantic this evening (12th April 2016) in the UK. Stephen Dillane (Game of Thrones) and Clémence Poésy (Harry Potter) return to the roles of detectives Karl Roebuck and Elise Wasserman. They were first seen in 2013’s The Tunnel, a British-French crime drama television series, adapted from the 2011 Danish/Swedish crime series The Bridge. They are also joined by Emilia Fox (Silent Witness), Clarke Peters (The Wire), and William Ash (Shameless).

This new series finds the detectives meeting up and working together once more to figure out why a couple travelling through the Channel Tunnel were abducted, while their child was left behind. However, what starts as a kidnapping investigation becomes something much larger when a plane crashes.

Sky Atlantic very kindly sent me the series to watch and it is extremely good. I hadn’t seen The Tunnel, but that didn’t matter. Events and characters are introduced well and I was soon up to speed. Whereas the first series was a remake of The Bridge, Sabotage strikes off on its own. We are one year on from the events of the first series.

First of all, this is an extremely well made drama. There are some big moments in the show and they are almost of a cinematic quality. Something that seems to becoming something of the norm for TV shows today. In fact there is quite a bit of action throughout so you don’t have to worry about it being a slow ponderous journey to the truth. We cover lots of characters in different places, but you never feel confused. Like the Nordic Noir series it is based on, things do go quite dark, but that is what you want sometimes in a crime thriller.

We are soon introduced to the apparent masterminds of the crimes, so it is more a finding out the why, more than the who. However, there are many twists and turns as Roebuck and Wasserman investigate the events that began at the Chunnel.

Dillane and Poésy are fantastic in this, with Poésy being a particular stand out. Dillane’s character is a great change from his role of Stannis Baratheon on Game of Thrones. Their chemistry is brilliant and whenever they are not on screen, you are often waiting for their return. Watching this makes me want to go back and watch The Tunnel. In fact, pretty much everyone on screen does a great job and you are sucked into the events unfolding before you.

To go into any more detail would spoil the enjoyment of discovering the truth with Roebuck and Wasserman.

There are some minor problems. The main one being that it begins to feel rushed as we near the conclusion. A small gripe, but one that stood out as the first few episodes are wonderfully paced. Also, as the show went on I did find that there were a couple of things I had to go back and watch again due to being a little confused as to the motivations of certian characters. That may have just been me having a dumb moment though,

All in all a great crime thriller and well worth watching.

The Tunnel: Sabotage begins at 9pm 12th April 2016 on Sky Atlantic.