THE DEEP (BBC ONE)

[6.49 - French Time] The crew of a research submarine explores the deep of the Arctic ocean to investigate what happened to a previous mission.

The pre-credits sequence shows you what it really means to have a bad day at work: Catherine Donnelly (Orla Brady), a marine biologist, is 2000 feet below the Arctic ice doing her job in a mini-sub while she's monitored by the crew of the Hermes submarine. Then she loses all contact with the team and is left alone in the darkness.

Six months later, Catherine's husband, engineer Clem Donnelly (James Nesbitt), embarks with marine biologist Samson Ungliss (Goran Visnjic) for an expedition commanded by Frances Kelly (Minnie Driver). With them come computational physicist Svetlana, volcanologist Vincent and marine biology student Maddy. Raymond Hopkins (Tobias Menzies), an admiralty salvage investigator, join them at the last minute.

Something starring James Nesbitt (Occupation, Jekyll, Murphy's Law) surely worths a try. Regrettably, this premiere does not survive the claustrophobic pre-credits opener and the effective theme music by Samuel Sim. Maybe the Hermes crew discovered there's no life, even life aquatic, into The Deep.

The five-part thriller is written by Simon Donald and directed by Jim O'Hanlon (Emma) and Colm McCarthy (Murphy's Law). It's a Tiger Aspect Scotland production for BBC Wales, filmed at BBC Scotland's Dumbarton Studios in Glasgow. The cinematography is by the talented Adam Suschitzky.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00tc8r5
http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2009/12_december/17/deep.shtml
http://www.samuelsim.com/