Returning from a medical conference in Beijing, Doctor Matthew Nolan is arrested when he gets off the plane in London: accused of having left the daughter of a Chinese general, found in his damaged rental car, to die, he is sent back immediately to China, escorted by Hana Li, a London police officer. Several of his colleagues are also ordered to turn around to testify but the ten-hour flight to Beijing turns out to be more turbulent than expected: while Nolan proclaims his innocence, the plane suffers damage and the researchers are murdered one after the other, Agatha Christie’s There were Ten of them.
Claustrophobics refrain
Is Nolan being framed or hiding something? Why are the Chinese, British and American governments, as well as their secret services, in turmoil? With the help on the ground of the boss of MI5 and that (more hazardous) of her sister, aspiring journalist, Hana Li tries to untangle the tangle of an affair with complex ramifications, against the backdrop of geopolitical issues surrounding a project to build Chinese nuclear power plants in Great Britain.
Claustrophobics or phobics of air travel, this series written by Peter A. Dowling (Flight plan, 2005) is not for you: a large part of the six episodes take place on the plane where the tension rises a notch after each murder and each sabotage. Despite a convoluted plot and improbable twists and turns, the mechanics are effective enough to maintain our interest until the end.
And if most of the characters are rather transparent, two female figures stand out: the courageous Hana Li (Jing Lusi), a pugnacious investigator who has been complexed since childhood by her Hong Kong origins, and Madeline Delaney, the boss of the British intelligence services, played by an imperial Lesley Sharp.
