If Red Eye needed a statement of intent for season two, it’s found one in the arrival of Martin Compston — and from the opening moments, he lands with purpose.
As RSO Brody, head of security at the American embassy in London with a past connection to DS Hana Li (Jing Lusi), he combines authority with just enough ambiguity to immediately complicate everything.
Season one thrived on the claustrophobia of a flight to Beijing, filled with mistrust and the creeping sense that even those who were telling the truth were doing so for the wrong reasons. We wanted to know who was killing people and how they were getting away with it at 30,000ft. An Agatha Christie locked-room mystery on the Beijing red-eye.
Season two widens the lens, and Compston’s presence is key to that shift. Brody is positioned close enough to power to be dangerous, but far enough from the centre to plausibly deny responsibility if things start to unravel.
What makes the casting especially effective is how Compston plays against expectation. We are used to his sympathetic screen persona but Brody is darker and edgier. He was kicked off the police training course at Hendon, where he was Hana’s work partner, after he flew at an instructor in a blind rage.
Then he ghosted her. As the drama unfolds it’s hard to work out if he’s the the calm in the storm, or simply the man best at hiding the weather?
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Of course, this is the kind of mess Red Eye loves. DS Hana, season one’s dogged, stubborn, seat-of-the-pants instinctive detective kicks off the season back at Heathrow, but this time she’s investigating the murder of a diplomatic courier coming back from the US.
Then the mysteries stack up – someone’s placed a bomb on the private jet carrying Lesley Sharp’s head of MI5 back from America with the defence secretary in tow. The bomb warning was called in from the US ambassador’s office.
The cleaner caught on video outside the toilet where the courier died has also been murdered. There’s a huge diplomatic reception at the embassy and Brody is nervy – he wants everything to be perfect.
So when Hana shows up just as someone sneaks into the embassy with stolen credentials, the sparks fly. Hana sees Brody as a glorified security officer, he sees her as a lowly copper, but as things unravel, they realise they need each other’s expertise.
The first episode leans heavily into this conflict, framing Brody through partial conversations, loaded silences and scenes that end just before answers are offered. Even the answers he gives open more questions – not least of which is how does someone with a Scottish accent end up running security at the US embassy? "Dual citizenship," he barks. So, what, marriage? Or parents? Or does he have something to hide?
There’s also a noticeable tonal shift in the premiere. While Red Eye remains tense and tightly controlled, season two’s opening episode carries a slightly colder edge, less about immediate danger and more about long-term consequences. It opens with Russia being blamed or shooting down a new D-300 cargo plane over the Atlantic. We’re lead to believe that the assassin is Russian – he claims he is – but we know from season one that no-one is what they seem.
Compston’s character embodies that pivot: he’s not there to escalate chaos — he’s there to manage it, redirect it, or quietly weaponise it.
Jemma Moore reprises her role as Hana’s sister, journalist Jess Li, but she’s not showing up right away.
By the end of the episode, viewers may not know exactly who Martin Compston is playing — but they’ll know one thing for certain: Red Eye hasn’t brought him in for decoration. His arrival signals a season more interested in power than panic, and in the slow, unsettling realisation that the most dangerous people in the room are often the ones who never raise their voices.
If your TV plans for New Year’s Day previously consisted of only cosy period dramas and reruns of quiz shows, Red Eye is here to violently – but thrillingly – shift your attention.
Red Eye is on ITV on New Year’s Day at 9pm and on ITVX.
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