CHRISTOPHER STEVENS reviews In Flight on Ch4: Spare a thought for the Bulgarian tourist board after this dark thriller
The opening three minutes of In Flight were crammed with so much backstory, I had to check this rush of events wasn't a recap of an earlier series.
In a blur of flashback images, we saw a bunch of lads downing beer in a rough bar, a chase, a fight, and a frantic single mother flying across Europe to the aid of her 19-year-old son facing murder charges in a Bulgarian jail.
After a tearful prison visit, we caught up with mum Jo months later, trying to hang on to her job as a flight attendant while fighting a solo legal battle.
That's quite a set-up. For the first half-hour, Katherine Kelly battled to maintain the pace, but like a runner who starts a marathon with a sprint, she inevitably began to flag.
Twice, she flopped down onto a mattress and appeared to pass out from sheer exhaustion. I don't blame her.
At first it seemed this six-part thriller, which continues tonight, would concentrate on her struggle to win freedom for her son, helpfully named Sonny (Harry Cadby).
But the plot took a twist after Jo went out drinking in a bar with friends, downing shots of vodka and red wine mixed with Coke — a hellish concoction.
You would think that, after the trouble that booze bingeing caused her teenage son, she would be teetotal.
Instead, she starts flirting with a bearded guy (Stuart Martin) whose Northern Irish accent is as intimidating as his leather jacket.
Fishy tale of the night
J.B. Gill went snorkelling over a reef in the English Channel off Bognor Regis, in Coastal Adventures (Ch5).
He was looking for Stompy the stingray. 'He's huge but he hasn't got a sting,' said another diver.
Sounds like Stompy is a big softy.
When she arrives home at the end of the night, he's already let himself into the house, which seems a bit forward.
Turns out he's a drugs runner for an organised crime gang, with one of those offers-you-can't-refuse: either she agrees to smuggle heroin in her cabin crew luggage allowance, or his associates in the East European jail will kill her son.
All credit to Martin - I knew I recognised him from the moment he gave Jo a wolfish smile, but it wasn't till I Googled that the penny dropped: he was the urbane but irascible Inspector William Wellington in the Victorian detective show, Miss Scarlet And The Duke.
The two roles could hardly be more different, and yet he seems naturally fitted for both.
His sinister presence gives In Flight an edge of menace, leaving us genuinely fearful for Jo's safety. But she doesn't make it easy for us to warm to her.
When she needs money or reassurance, she turns to former lover and customs officer Dom (Ashley Thomas), phoning him in the early hours of the morning even though he's married with a small child.
And the first time she brings drugs through airport security, she switches bags with her best friend, so that if anyone does get caught, it won't be Jo. Charming.
But if Jo's unlikeable, spare a thought for the Bulgarian tourist board. No one's going to be booking a holiday there after watching this.
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