David Farnor | On 28, Dec 2025

Season 2 premieres on 1st January 2026. This review was originally published in Apri 2024 and is based on Season 1.

There’s something about a plane that creates immediate tension. From Hijack to Non-Stop, it’s a setting that has paid off time and time again for both film and TV shows, so it’s no surprise to find another landing on ITV. This time, it stars Mr TV Thriller himself, Richard Armitage. The Spooks veteran has become the go-to star presence in any Harlan Coben adaptation you can name, and this is a wonderful reminder why, as he steps into a central role – and immediately arouses both sympathy and suspicion.

He plays Dr Matthew Nolan, who we first meeting in Beijing where he has been on the wrong end of a knife. When he arrives at Heathrow airport, we don’t know anything more – just that the police are there to arrest him for the murder of a young woman. Prompt him standing up in front of the whole departures lounge declaring his innocence, before being carted off to a red-eye flight straight back to China in handcuffs.

It’s a great hook, and the series immediately positions the pieces on the board with precision: there’s Dr Matthew, spluttering and glowering in equal measure, there’s DC Hana Li (Jung Lusi), who is tasked with supervising him because of her Cihnese heritage, and a host of witnesses from the conference Dr Matthew had been attending. On the ground, Lesley Sharp plays Madeline Delaney, the MI5 head who isn’t a fan of Dr Matthew beign extraordinarily renditioned, and – in the show’s best move – Jess (Jemma Moore), a journalist who begins unpicking the messy web of conspiracy, international political tensions and personal secrets. And also happens to be Li’s half-sister.

What ensues is a twisting and riveting ride over six episodes that states the stakes clearly from the off: bodies quickly begin to pile up, both on the ground and in the air. Creator Peter A Dowling has previous in this airspace with Flightplan and he craftily contrives reasons for Dr Matthew to suddenly become useful mid-air, while still being a figure of distrust – and the prickly bond between Dr Matthew and DC Hana is well balanced with the similarly awkward interactions between DC Hana and her well-meaning but also selfish and ambitious half-sister. It’s these relationships that anchor Red Eye amid its more presposterous moments, and while Armitage is perfectly cast, it’s Jung Lusi who emerges as the real star to watch, balancing professionalism, determination and frustration at evident white make privilege with immediately likeable charisma. The result a taut, fast-paced ride that flies by.

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