Crossfire BBC

Warning: this article contains spoilers for the first episode of BBC One's Crossfire. We had a strong feeling that Crossfire was going to be a strong contender ...

It also forms a major part of the reason why it’s so easy to ask yourself what you would do in an event like this – and the characters provide us with a variety of answers to that all important question. Would you be like Chinar (Vikash Bhai) and prioritise your children’s – and your friend’s children’s – safety over your own? But early on, we start to see the cracks in their [relationship](https://www.stylist.co.uk/tag/relationship). It’s an unlikely format but one that introduces you to the characters – and their pre-existing personal dynamics – in snippets as the Would you be like Jo and refuse to listen to authority in a bid to protect your family? Even in an episode that manages to remain fast-paced and high octane, it is made up of painstakingly long silences. Yes, it’s a [drama](https://www.stylist.co.uk/tag/drama) with a tragic crime at its centre, but rather than solely exploring that, Crossfire does a better job of exploring the human and relatable elements that unfold in moments of tragedy. And it’s the decision that sees Jo removed from the unfolding drama down below. It’s clear to see that Jason feels emasculated at the mention of Jo’s former A [detective-drama](https://www.stylist.co.uk/entertainment/ridley-itv-adrian-dunbar-episode-1-review/701543) heavy autumnal television schedule may be underway but this show isn’t your typical [crime drama](https://www.stylist.co.uk/tag/crime-dramas). We meet Jo (Hawes) as the organised mother of two, excited about a sunlit [Keeley Hawes](https://www.stylist.co.uk/tag/keeley-hawes) as the series’ lead actor, but Crossfire is quite unlike anything else on TV at the moment.

Created and written by Louise Doughty (best-selling novelist and author of Apple Tree Yard), in her first original series for television, Crossfire is set ...

My heart was beating out of my chest when I read it and I got to the end of each episode and I had to go on to the next. I thought it was one of those where, you know, the indication of a good script is always in the writing and it was just great, it was a page turner. I think it's a representation of somebody from the Indian subcontinent that we don't often get to see on screen. I think what audiences will relate to in Crossfire is the fact that it's a very familiar situation. She has made the decision and it is a matter of breaking it to her husband that it’s what she wants to do. It was a joy, especially the Spanish cast as well as it was a nice mix, especially the social side of things and we get to hang out together. I suppose firstly it was something quite unusual to have a woman at the centre of a story which is so action-based and at the same time has this moral dilemma with this much emotion. However at the same time, what it's actually about is the human stories and the kind of moral dilemma at the heart of it. I think people at home will be able to relate that at your most relaxed, at your most unguarded and this thing strikes and how would I behave if it happened to me? Of course we would all like to think we would behave heroically; the truth is not all of us would. I wanted to write about the human choices that we all make under pressure and of course the consequences of those decisions that reverberate for years to come. I hope that what people watching relate to is the sense that this event happened during the course of something that for many people is very ordinary and often a treat.

New BBC drama Crossfire, starring Keeley Hawes, has been described as an 'edge-of-your-seat nail-biting thriller'

A story of survival and resilience, Crossfire is an edge-of-your-seat nail-biting thriller yet also emotional, intimate and relatable. For more showbiz and television stories, get our newsletter Describing the drama, Louise said: "Crossfire is a drama about ordinary people caught up in an extraordinary situation and how they behave." Gunmen, out for revenge, have, in an instant, turned a slice of paradise into a terrifying heart-breaking hell. Crossfire starts on BBC One and BBC iPlayer at 9pm on Tuesday, September 20. Crossfire kicks off on BBC One and BBC iPlayer on Tuesday, September 20.

Created by a Melton-born author Louise Doughty and partly set in Leicester, new BBC One drama Crossfire is the channel's new headline thriller.

I had one child was in the pool and one had wandered off somewhere and I couldn't help thinking what if some sort of gun attack happened on the resort at this particular moment. Speaking before the shows premiere, Dan Ryan, who plays Ben, said: "It's going to be the classic moments when you're shouting at the television screen. Episodes two and three will air on consecutive nights on Wednesday 21 and Thursday 22 at 9pm on BBC One. "I love the Canary Islands, I've been many, many times as it's one of our favourite holiday spots," she says. Created by a Melton-born author Louise Doughty and partly set in Leicester, new BBC One drama Crossfire is the channel's new headline thriller. With the unsuspecting holidaymakers and hotel staff forced to make monumental split-second life or death decisions, the consequences will linger long after the final shots are fired."

Anneika Rose – Abhi; Josette Simon – Miriam; Daniel Ryan – Ben; Hugo Silva – Mateo; Shalisha James-Davis – Amara; Alba Brunet – Bea; Ariyon Bakare – Paul.

Like that psychological thriller, this three-part tale (showing over consecutive nights) also involves a middle-aged woman’s extra-marital affair. - Lee Ingleby – Jason - Keeley Hawes – Jo

Who says that action heroes can't be middle-aged mums? Keeley Hawes in Crossfire. BBC / Dancing Ledge Productions/Luke Varley.

It can be harrowing and heart-wrenching and it asks you to consider all kinds of impossible questions about instinct, vengeance and self-sacrifice. [Bodyguard](https://www.radiotimes.com/programme/b-0u06nq/bodyguard/), the last time she took centre stage in a BBC One drama, Hawes gets to play protector rather than protected. After two episodes of often overwhelming nail-biting tension, viewers will find the third and final either a much-needed breather or anti-climactic. However, the majority ring true for a bunch of everyday people who suddenly find themselves in the most horrifying peril imaginable. With the armed response unit, conveniently for plot purposes, at least half-an-hour away, it’s Jo and the Spanish hotel manager (Hugo Silva) who are essentially tasked with keeping the two shooters at bay. And although there are a few wince-inducing scenes, it doesn’t focus heavily on the bloodshed they create either. One parent heads back into the thick of the gunfire after losing a child during the panicked evacuation. Knowing her loved ones’ lives are at stake, though, and perhaps with her husband’s sneering words from the night before still ringing in her ears (“It’s definitely been a long time since you ran after anyone”), she quickly springs into action. Yet even when coming face to face with the enemy, she can be reluctant to use it. Be prepared: the five minutes of confusion that follow provide perhaps the most gut-punching, tension-fuelled scene you’re likely to see on the Beeb all year. Until, that is, the sounds of gunshot start reverberating around the packed swimming pool. Multiple flashbacks to a joyous New Year’s Eve party show how close her friendship group is, perhaps a little too close in some cases.

Hawes' Jo and her husband are enjoying a family trip to a holiday resort with friends and lots of kids in tow. keeley hawes in bbc drama crossfire, standing ...

Self preservation or preparation for something more sinister?" While another tweeted: "Blonde waiter. The series, which sees "a holiday turn from heaven to hell in a second", is airing three consecutive episodes this week and has already got off to a nail-biting start.

A sun-baked island resort; Keeley Hawes taking a leisurely dip in an infinity pool as we hear her in voiceover musing on how events happen unchosen, ...

[Murder in Provence, ITV review - a little light sleuthing amid fabulous French scenery](/tv/murder-provence-itv-review-little-light-sleuthing-amid-fabulous-french-scenery)Roger Allam and Nancy Carroll make an urbane crime-solving duo [The Newsreader, BBC Two review - a drama series of welcome substance from Australia](/tv/newsreader-bbc-two-review-drama-series-welcome-substance-australia)It's 1986, and a Melbourne TV news team are battling rival stations and each other [The Control Room, BBC One review - twisty thriller set in an ultra-noir Glasgow](/tv/control-room-bbc-one-review-twisty-thriller-set-ultra-noir-glasgow)A mysterious woman caller turns an ambulance dispatcher's life inside out [Trom, BBC Four review - there's something fishy in the North Atlantic](/tv/trom-bbc-four-review-theres-something-fishy-north-atlantic)Murder, conspiracy and ecological awareness in a cold climate If you enjoy watching this kind of torture, it's a four-star of the genre. A dead body floating in a pool managed a voiceover in Sunset Boulevard, so there is no guarantee Jo has survived all the shooting, of course. Also in the group is Amara (Shalisha James-Davis), an older mixed-race teenager, who you eventually realise is Jo’s daughter from her first marriage. The script throws in a handy scene with a know-it-all man at the resort who is trying to guess the six friends' professions (though their names are rushed past: we have to struggle on, adding those in step by step). [writer](https://theartsdesk.com/topics/screenwriting) Louise Doughty (Apple Tree Yard) is trying to avoid the traditional arc of the disaster movie: that is, assemble a disparate bunch of people in an enclosed space far from anywhere, immerse the audience in their back stories, then after about 45-60 minutes start killing them off.

Viewers who tuned in to watch BBC One's new drama, Crossfire, starring Keeley Hawes are all saying the same thing…

Keeley Hawes really can do no wrong!" A third commented: "Watching #crossfire behind my cushion. Top-notch drama," while another added: "Well that was tense!! A third commented: "Well #Crossfire was just brilliant. while another added: "#Crossfire was fantastic! One person wrote: "Loved episode one of #Crossfire tonight - gripping drama with tension building around the events and personal situations!!