Passenger (2024)
Written by: Andrew Buchan
Starring: Barry Sloane, David Threlfall, Jo Hartley, Natalie Gavin, Rowan Robinson, Wunmi Mosaku
Dead stags….missing teenagers….a spooky forest…..if ITV did Stranger Things…..
There is something amiss in the small town of Chadder Vale, a place where nearly everything you know in horror and recent TV shows is present and correct. Lets see!
Black Oily substance like in The X Files – CHECK
Oily Substance that burns through like acid in the ALIEN films –CHECK
A spooky forest that may hold a secret – BLAIR WITCH, STRANGER THINGS etc – CHECK
References like “I gut you like a fish” from horror classic SCREAM – CHECK
A recently released criminal coming back to a town to face the Police Officer who arrested him like in HAPPY VALLEY – CHECK!
The list can go on and yet you can only smile at the confident self-awareness on show with the script making characters utter lines like “this isn’t Twin Peaks” or “This is not Broadchurch.” to make its point that its actually not, despite grabbing many elements of their DNA and countless other TV shows, all held together by a fascinating and captivating turn by Wunmi Mosaku, who even wears the same scarf as Sarah Lancashire’s character Catherine Carwood and yet has a much more complicated case to solve.
With so many detective shows being released, its easy to just turn your nose up at another new entry to hit ITV and it was only a quote I saw on a review of PASSENGER claiming its “Twin Peaks meets Happy Valley” that piqued my interest, that maybe this will be different to all the others and deserves to be sat down and binge-watched over the holiday season and yes, it didn’t disappoint.
Mosaku plays detective Riya, an ambitious officer, stuck in this small town having left her job at Manchester Met for her marriage, only for her husband to leave her for his Mum’s carer and left to take care of her mother in law and the only exciting case to solve on her daily agenda is of missing Recycling bins and a night of relaxing, bellowing out Justin Bieber songs at the one and only pub in town.
When a Swedish tourist goes missing, nothing gets done or said, but when a popular girl Katie (Rowan Robinson) follows suit a few weeks later, her car found in the middle of the snowy woods, where a sliced dead stag was discovered, then things start to get spooky. What’s in the woods? What is the local bakery factory hiding in the back of their lorries? Why do potholes suddenly appear for no reason? The more Riya tries to discover what is going on, the more crazier she sounds, a detective looking for things that are not there due to boredom, constantly getting shouted down for her theories by her Chief Constable Linda (Jo Hartley) and yet us the viewer know she is onto something, but what? Add a strange 80’s computer game to the mix, then you really are onto something different here….the mystery deepening as each episode passes.
Its hard to be too critical when the show does become a tad too silly as its nice to see ITV branching out on its own ambition and there is a lovely deft hand to it all thanks to the confident screenwriting debut by actor Andrew Buchan, no stranger to this genre having starred in Broadchurch and clearly knowing his horror, littering episodes with enough Easter Eggs for fans to gorge on.
PASSENGER is not perfect by any means, the plot can feel a bit overstuffed, with too many ideas for its own good, but it does amuse and brings a captivating mystery that once started, will make you want to watch the entire six episode run. Its no Fargo, but does more than enough for you to want to spend time with these characters and when the mystery is all wrapped up in a both satisfying and frustrating conclusion, you are left with hope that a season two will continue the mysterious cases in Chadder Vale, with the UK’s own Fox Mulder, Mosaku back, leading the charge, as with an ending like that….there has to be!
Rating: 
Passenger is streaming now on ITV and ITVX
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