Okay, first off the virus in the room. Yes, it does seem a little weird to be reviewing a show about the end of the world in the pandemic we live in. I watched this episode pre-Thursday which was when everything took, as scientists call it, A Turn. I’m planning on continuing with the show, talking to our esteemed Managing Editor about it and making sure you’re all equipped to make good, non-anxiety causing choices. All that being said, shall we?

In France, astronomer Catherine Durand (Léa Drucker) discovers something impossible. In London, Sarah Gresham (Natasha Little) and her children prepare for the last normal day of their lives. At Calais, a desperate refuge finds himself in the wrong place at the right time. And lecturer Bill Ward (Gabriel Byrne) discovers something horrifying, shortly before doing something worse…

So with all that being said, this is a really interesting take on War of the Worlds. The basic beats of the story are there, but they’re re-mixed in ways which vary from successful to hopefully successful to ‘kind of worrying’.

Let’s do the last, first. We need to talk about Bill. It’s always great to see Gabriel Byrne on screen and he does some good work here. But, the dynamic of Bill as an abusive (implied) stalking (definitely) ex-husband feels… weird. Not necessarily bad, just… odd. Forced. We barely meet his wife (an under-used but it’s early days Elizabeth McGovern) and her new partner before Bill has accidentally killed him and basically kidnapped her. It’s an interesting idea, obviously intended to show the attack just cutting like a knife through everything around it but it feels janky. Likewise, the thought of seven episodes of the pair of them hiding out doesn’t exactly fill me with joy but, like I say, early days.

Now the stuff that will hopefully work. Bayo Gbadamosi is great as Kariem and I love the idea of an event like this rendering his status moot and simultaneously giving him a unique perspective. The issue of immigration, of refugees and asylum seekers, is one fraught with emotion and a minefield of terrible narrative choices. So far, the show has made very few of those and if it can continue to navigate the ground beneath it, then Kariem is going to become a vital part of the ensemble and the show’s message, I hope it works, so far, so good.

Now the stuff that really works. The actual invasion, and the build up to it, is chilling. It’s not just that I really like dramas filled with people looking worriedly at screens (although I… really do) it’s because it feels real. There are refreshingly few terrible choices made and the moment humanity realizes it’s outgunned is terrifying. Plus Drucker and Adel Bencharif as her Special Forces Liaison Colonel Mokrani are great, They sell the terror, the sense of events spiraling out of control and the determination to do something about it perfectly.

Verdict: No tripods? No problem. This is pacier, and more determined to tell its own story than the BBC’s version. It’s not faithful to the book in many ways but here? That honestly feels like an asset. 8/10

Alasdair Stuart