Photo credits – Kim Hardy – Jing Lusi. Stefan Sieler – Martin Compston. Provided by ITV.
ITV renewed the thriller series ‘Red Eye‘ for a 2nd Season towards the end of last year, but a question remained as to who would star. Now they have announced Martin Compston will take the guest lead role, following in the footsteps of Richard Armitage, joining Jing Lusi who reprises her role as DS Hana Li.
Season one of the drama starred Richard Armitage as a doctor returning to the UK from a medical conference in Beijing, only to find himself arrested at Heathrow for the murder of a woman who was in the car he crashed. Despite his protests that he was driving alone, Nolan is sent back China to face charges, escorted by DS Li. However, when people start dying on the plane, Li begins to suspect foul play, and Nolan might actually be telling the truth.
We don’t know much about the plot of season two, other than it will feature a new conspiracy to solve, but changing the lead makes sense, given they are specific to each case. Much like Compston’s other show, ‘Line Of Duty‘, they can bring in a big guest name for a season as the “suspect”, whilst retaining some of the other key cast. Alongside Lusi and Compston, Lesley Sharp reprises her role as Head of MI5, Madeline Delaney, and Jemma Moore returns as journalist, Jess Li.
“I’m incredibly excited to return to the world of Red Eye, and thrilled to be sharing this rollercoaster with the brilliant Martin Compston,” said Jing Lusi.
Compston has been quite busy in recent years. He’s just coming off the back of the second season of Prime Video drama ‘The Rig‘, and is about to pop up in another Prime Video series, ‘Fear‘. He also presented ‘Martin Compston’s Norwegian Fling’ last year for the BBC, and rumours have been swirling about a potential 7th Season of ‘Line Of Duty’.
“I’m delighted to be joining the Red Eye team,” said Compston. “Hoping to build on the massive success of the first series and give viewers another thrilling ride.”
Written and created by Peter A Dowling (Black and Blue, Flightplan), the series is produced by Wales-based independent production company Bad Wolf, founded by Jane Tranter and Julie Gardner, who are the producers of Doctor Who, Industry, The Winter King, His Dark Materials, I Hate Suzie, and A Discovery of Witches. Season 2 consists of six new episodes written by Dowling, with Jingan Young returning to write an episode.
“Peter A Dowling has again crafted the most intense and ambitious thriller, full of his signature twists and turns,” said Julie Gardner and Lachlan MacKinnon on behalf of Bad Wolf. “Our magnificent returning cast, Jing Lusi, Lesley Sharp and Jemma Moore, will be joined by the marvellous Martin Compston. We are incredibly thankful to Polly Hill for recommissioning the show and giving us the chance to again share it with the ITV audience.”
Award-winning producer Julie Gardner (I Hate Suzie, Doctor Who) will executive produce the new series alongside Lachlan MacKinnon (Industry, A Discovery of Witches). Chris May (Litvinenko, Doctor Who) will produce the series. Kieron Hawkes (Power Book IV, Fortitude) will return to direct episodes 1-3, with Camilla Strøm Henriksen (Grace, The Suspect) directing episodes 4-6.
‘Red Eye‘ Season 2 does not have a premiere date yet but will air on ITVX and ITV1. If you want to keep track of this or any other show, you can add them via our Never Miss system, and you’ll be notified when it gets a UK premiere date.
