While making the first series of The Tourist – an enjoyable, action-packed amnesia romp set in the sun-bleached deserts of Australia – creators Harry and Jack Williams weren't planning on taking the story further.
But the brothers – whose work includes the recent Boat Story and Baptiste – had a change of heart and in bringing the tourist of the title (played by Jamie Dornan) home to Ireland to face the demons of his past, they breathed new life into the show.
"Living in the past doesn't do anyone any favours", says one character, and that pretty much sums up the theme of the series, but boy does it make for some stellar TV, with characters that are deeper and more richly rounded than series one.
The premise remains pretty much exactly the same as the first series. Dornan's character Elliot Stanley still can't remember anything from the past, which makes it tricky when his criminal family is locked in a gang war with rival hoodlums. He doesn't know who is a friend or a foe. Or even who his mum is.
The action picks up 14 months after the previous series, which left Elliot at his lowest, seemingly heading for an overdose after learning some of the very unpleasant things he had done while working for a drug-running gang. A message from cop-turned love interest Helen Chambers (Danielle Macdonald) opened the door to hope as the season ended.
And it's no spoiler to say Elliot is OK (there wouldn't be much of a series two without him) and with Helen he heads to Ireland and find out who he really is. And from there, very quickly, it catches light. A few minutes in and the fun begins as he’s kidnapped (after shaving his frankly appalling beard) by three masked assailants, and the cycle of escaping, re-capturing, punch ups, sarky jokes and revelations begin.
Through the highs and lows, the action and introspection, it's Dornan who is the beating heart of the show. The hunky lead is thoroughly believable as someone wrestling with his (lack of) identity, conflicted by the appalling actions he can't remember doing, but also someone who is funny, dry with lowkey charisma that makes this so watchable.The support cast round it out brilliantly. Macdonald brings the same warmth to the second series as she did in the first, and the return of her terrible former boyfriend Ethan is inspired. He is brilliantly played by Greg Larsen as a character who appears to be trying to grapplw with his own toxicity and mend his ways but comes across as even more hilariously boorish and flawed as the series progresses.There's the addition of Olwen Fouere as a crime gang matriarch, who is by turns tender and homicidal. Detective Ruairi Slater is also a new recruit, played by Conor MacNeill – previously in The Sixth Commandment and Industry – who once again plays a weedy character somewhat overwhelmed by events, though this time, he clearly has some deeper issues going on at home.
Throughout, the writing is strong. The show is tense, brutal and often laugh-out-loud funny – one early line about a podcast had me in stitches and the hits keep on coming – and while the action is always engaging as gang warfare ignites, it’s the dialogue, especially between antagonists, that keeps it a delight. At times, the show is horror inflected too, with clear nods to the Saw franchise and Psycho.
This is a welcome return for a show that may well have been underappreciated the first time round – and once again Dornan proves the perfect frontman. Series two turns up the dial and has all the necessary ingredients for a gripping, entertaining time in front of the box on new year's day.
