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Hijack ★★★★
Since its debut in 2023, the Idris Elba hostage drama Hijack has become one of Apple TV’s top dramas, racking up awards – including an Emmy nomination for Elba – and critical acclaim.
Part 24 and part any number of 1980s action films, with its real-time storyline unfolding over the course of seven hours/episodes, Elba was the charismatic, level-headed Sam Nelson, who, despite being some kind of corporate negotiator (I’m still not entirely clear what his job is), managed to calm a planeload of panicked hostages and reason with a crew of (eventually equally panicked) hijackers.
Idris Elba suffers yet more transport woes in the second season of Hijack.
It was all largely implausible, but the top-notch acting and real-time suspense made it easy to suspend disbelief. And of course, Sam made it home to son Kai (Jude Cudjoe) and ex-wife Marsha (Christine Adams), despite both of them also coming into harm’s way, helped by the fact that Marcia was now with Daniel (Max Beesley), a police detective with connections in the anti-terrorism squad.
It’s unclear how much time has elapsed since the events of season one (more than a year though, we can gather from one early revelation), but you’d think any amount of time would deter Sam from public transport. Still, the efficient Berlin subway system, the U-Bahn, probably seemed a pretty safe option.
That’s right, this time Sam is caught up in a train hijacking, and the lives of dozens of passengers are in danger. I can’t detail how he’s come to be on said train – or even why he’s in Berlin – without spoiling anything. But, suffice to say he’s in the German capital for more than just a corporate team-building retreat. It seems the events – and, possibly, some of the perpetrators – of the hijacking of Flight KA29 are not entirely behind him.
Clare-Hope Ashitey and Toby Jones try to control the situation from the command centre of the U-Bahn.Credit: Apple+ TV
Elba again remains insanely cool in the face of impending disaster, dealing with rapidly unfolding events underground and a train full of disgruntled passengers, who soon turn angry and then afraid.
Interestingly (and handily for viewers), the passengers seem mostly British, including a group of high-schoolers on an excursion (among them Adolescence’s Owen Cooper) and some hungover backpackers. There’s also the requisite baby on board, and one stoic older German woman who, having lived through the Cold War, thinks she knows what’s going on. Spoiler: she doesn’t. (Not really a spoiler.)
Above ground, as the U-Bahn is evacuated, Dark’s Lisa Vicari stars as Clara, a relative newcomer to her job in the subway system’s control centre which, at once imposing and stylish, resembles something from Star Trek.
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Clara becomes Sam’s main point of contact throughout the hijacking. Along with German police and British Intelligence officers including the perpetually worried-looking Toby Jones (The Hack), she guides Sam and the train’s panicked driver Otto (Christian Näthe) to safety, while trying to meet the hijackers’ conditions.
This season is once again written by Lupin co-creator George Kay and Jim Field Smith, the latter of whom also directs. Elba returns as an executive producer. And while the plot is a little more convoluted (and isn’t standalone; you need to have seen the first season) with several red herrings, it’s no less intense.
Idris Elba fans will be pleased to know that by the season finale, it feels certain there will be a third season, even if Sam has started using Uber by then.
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