BBC One and BBC iPlayer will premiere the third series of Vigil on Sunday 30 August. The new episodes feature Suranne Jones as DCI Amy Silva and Rose Leslie as DI Kirsten Longacre. The plot centers on a murder investigation involving a member of a covert British special forces mission at a remote Arctic research station.
The production, handled by World Productions, involves a narrative where Silva and Longacre must identify a killer while managing a potential international confrontation over Arctic resources. The series moves the characters from previous settings to a polar environment. Suranne Jones stated that the characters are kept in the dark regarding specific information and must identify gaps in the evidence to solve the case.
Filming for the third series took place in Svalbard and Glasgow. The production team filmed in remote locations in Svalbard at the start of the shoot to establish the environment before returning to Scotland for the remainder of the production. Suranne Jones and Rose Leslie filmed scenes in these locations using snow buggies and specialized cold weather clothing.
The series follows a format where the lead detective is placed in unfamiliar environments with different rules and authority structures. This follows previous series where the character of Amy Silva operated in underwater settings and encountered drone technology. The third series focuses on the changing polar climate and the resulting competition between nations for control of the region. Vigil is a crime drama produced by World Productions for the BBC.