Hard Sun, BBC One review ★★★★★

Only a few days after the outpouring of fabulous TV this Christmas, and the BBC is keeping itself in the headlines with a brand new drama. Hard Sun, has got crime drama lovers shivering with excitement.

From Bafta and Emmy-nominated Neil Cross, the creator of Luther – and with Professor Brian Cox as the series’ specialist advisor – this is a self-described 'pre-apocalyptic crime show'.

Agyness Deyn and Jim Sturgess star as Elaine Renko and Charlie Hicks. We're greeted immediately with a series of fight scenes across London, and the painful, drawn out arson attack on Elaine Renko's house, from which she narrowly escapes.



From bad, naturally follows worse. Elaine and Charlie, despite trusting one another not at all, soon stumble upon proof that the world faces certain destruction... What will they do with the knowledge that the whole world will cease to exist in only five years?

With the British government suppressing this (literally) cataclysmic information, Hicks and Renko find themselves on the run from Security Service operatives who are trying to contain the leak of information. Unfortunately, a classified dossier makes its way into the hands of the press.

Murderers, serial killers, abusers and cult leaders; this new drama has them all. It's fast paced, horrifying, and carries throughout it the perpetual creeping drawl of Jim Sturgess (why does he always talk like that? Anyone else remember Close to the Enemy?).

There's some tight competition for Hard Sun on the BBC – what with McMafia being so good and all – but that's no reason to overlook this very excellent new drama.