Vigil Returns With Arctic Murder Case in Svalbard

Suranne Jones and Rose Leslie are back as DCI Amy Silva and DI Kirsten Longacre in a third series that premiered on BBC One on Sunday 30 August.

2026-08-31 07:52 UTC · 2 countries

Vigil Returns With Arctic Murder Case in Svalbard — the Guardian

The New Case

Series three of the BBC crime drama Vigil began on BBC One and BBC iPlayer on Sunday 30 August at 9pm, moving its investigation to the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, in Norway.

According to the BBC, a member of a covert British special forces mission has been murdered at a remote Arctic research station. DCI Amy Silva, played by Suranne Jones, and DI Kirsten Longacre, played by Rose Leslie, have to catch the killer and defuse a potential international confrontation as different nations compete for control of the Arctic and its resources in the changing polar climate.

The Guardian reports that four British special forces agents are working undercover at a research centre in the supposedly demilitarised region, tasked with extracting a Chinese scientist whose discovery could either save or destroy the world. They are ambushed by Russians; the scientist escapes, and one of the British agents is later found dead in a Russian enclave.

Silva, Longacre and the Split Storyline

The two detectives are a couple as well as colleagues. The Guardian says Longacre has spent the past year looking after their baby son, Fergal, and that it is she who flies to the Arctic, while Silva is ordered to stay in Scotland.

Aberdeen Live also describes Leslie's Longacre as leading the case, travelling to the Arctic Circle after the body is found. The Guardian's account of the Scottish strand involves a scientist who returns from Svalbard for a climate conference and is killed by a bomb in his university lab moments after Silva approaches him, with a climate activist seen running from the scene.

Vigil is named after the nuclear submarine of its first series. The second series was set between an army airfield in Scotland and the fictional Middle Eastern nation of Wudyan.

Filming and Reception

Jones told the BBC that the Svalbard scenes were shot at the start of the production, which helped the cast picture the setting once filming moved back to Scotland. She described reindeer outside the breakfast room each morning, driving snow buggies, and eating moose stew.

Leslie, who grew up at Lickleyhead Castle in Aberdeenshire, told a Vigil Q&A that filming in Scotland was part of the appeal from the beginning. Executive producer Jake Lushington praised the returning Scottish crew.

The Guardian's review was negative, calling the series twisty and explosive but boring, and criticising the leads as thinly drawn. It also questioned the premise that two ordinary detectives are repeatedly assigned to cases that could trigger a third world war. The sources do not say how many episodes the series runs or when it concludes.

Vigil Returns With Arctic Murder Case in Svalbard

The New Case

Silva, Longacre and the Split Storyline

Filming and Reception

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