Red Eye Series 2: Crimson Icarus is here, and I can’t believe it’s been almost two years since the first series came round. How have we gone this long without more Jing Lusi on our screens?
We first see DS Hana Li doing some boxing training… couldn’t have just had a whole series of her doing that in the interim? Please? Still, instead, there’s the slightly less engaging content that a transport plane shot has been out of the sky by Russian submarine on an excercise in the North Atlantic. Accidental, of course.
As we meet her this time round, it’s Hana’s birthday, and she’s called into action, despite the big day, given that a diplomat courier has been poisoned in the same way I’d dispense with the bad guys in Hitman, and a snooty new US Ambassador has taken his place in London.
In order to solve the case, Hana has to work with Embassy Security Chief Clay Brody (Martin Compston), but in the dim and distant past, he put her career in jeopardy by practically assaulting a colleague, and given that she was assigned as his partner, she had to take the collective rap for it. Hence, that gives her even more reason to scowl and smoulder than usual.
It doesn’t take too long before a tall, burly suspect needs to be investigated, leading to Hana chasing him with lots of running and jumping – but no shooting, since this if the UK where we don’t have firearms, and it’s not a Liam Neeson movie… okay, both of the two leads are brandishing a gun in the picture above, but… it’s a picture.
Lesley Sharp also returns as head honcho cop Madeline Delaney, who’s picked the wrong week to get on a plane, as there’s threats to bring it down, given the phrase “Crimson Icarus”, which in thie drama is a confirmed Russian code from the MOD threat list, despite it being called in by a baddie with an awful cod-Russian accent!
Still, whatever happens, Red Eye Series 2 brings us another six episodes of Jing Lusi, and that’ll start my new year off with a bang! Maybe she can get her own back and reveal Compston’s character as H from Line Of Duty?
Thanks to our friends at ITV for the screeners prior to release.
Red Eye Series 2: Crimson Icarus starts tonight on ITV at 9pm, but is already available to stream on ITVX.
It’s not yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD, but when it is, it will be listed on the New DVD, Blu-ray, 3D and 4K releases UK page.
Series Directors: Kieron Hawkes, Camilla Strøm Henriksen
Producers: Kristian Dench, Chris May
Creator: Peter A Dowling
Writers: Peter A Dowling, Jingan Young
Music: Ian Arber
Cast:
DS Hana Li: Jing Lusi
DG Madeline Delaney: Lesley Sharp
Jess Li: Jemma Moore
RSO Clay Brody: Martin Compston
Alex Peterson: Nicholas Rowe
Agent Liv Lewis: Sarah Junillon
Supt Simon O’Brien: Robert Gilbert
Rowan Olsen: ADam Buchanan
DSEC Alex Petersen: Nicholas Rowe
Agent Ruth Banks: Cash Holland
Megan Campbell: Steph Lacey
Tillman: Trevor White
Fox: Tom Forbes
Toni Zhang: Dan Li
ITV Newsreader: Lucrezia Millarini
Agent Peter McQueen: Alex Stoll
David Mills: Edward Crook
Border Officer: Adam Woolley
Alexander Bortnik: Russell Balogh
Fox: Tom Forbes
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.