TV Pick of the Week: The Tourist
The TouristBBC iPlayer, review by Yvette Huddleston
Published 15th Jan 2024, 06:00 GMT The second season of this intriguing thriller by the prolific and talented Williams[1] brothers (Harry and Jack) is as high-energy and twisty-turny as its predecessor. In the first series we met amnesiac Irishman Elliot Stanley (Jamie Dornan) who awoke in a hospital in the Australian Outback following a car crash, with no memory of who he was, how he got there or why he was even in the country.
It soon became apparent that people, for whatever reason, were out to get him and he found himself having to evade a succession of brutal antagonists. His only friend was keen young local police constable Helen Chambers (Danielle Macdonald) who was prepared to look out for him and help him try and piece together his past. They ended up becoming quite close and falling for each other.
As this new series opens, we find them travelling around Cambodia, still happily in love. Then Helen reveals that she has a letter that was delivered to her at the police station back in Australia from someone called Tommy, claiming to be a friend of Elliot’s in Ireland and she suggests it might be time for him to go back to his homeland, meet up with Tommy and find out more about what happened in his past life. They travel over to the Emerald Isle and that decision quickly turns out to be a monumental mistake as they become embroiled in what seems to be a heated turf war between two violent criminal families – the Cassidys and the McDonnells.
And it becomes increasingly obvious that Elliot has previously done some very bad things.
Jamie Dornan as Elliot Stanley and Danielle Macdonald as Helen Chambers in The Tourist.
Picture: BBC/Two Brothers/Steffan Hill/Russell Kirby.
Helen and Elliot become separated, both end up being kidnapped for different, bizarre reasons and have to try and find their way back to each other. Things are further complicated by the arrival in Ireland of Helen’s ex-boyfriend Ethan Krum (Greg Larson) who is seeking some kind of closure on their erstwhile relationship. Some of the plot twists verge on the outrageous but they are easily forgiven as the quality of the writing, pace of the narrative and the authenticity of the performances are so top-notch.
There is a great seam of dry black humour running throughout, a lovely natural chemistry between Dornan and Madonald and the Irish scenery looks stunning.
It is a highly entertaining rollercoaster ride that will have you on the edge of your seat all the way.