Vigil creator Tom Edge has said he is 'very touched' by the reaction to the show's central sapphic couple, after a fan shared how her father endorsed their relationship.
The BBC political thriller, starring Suranne Jones and Rose Leslie, returns for a third season on Sunday, August 30 at 9pm. Seasons one and two are available to stream on iPlayer now.
Fan story 'very touching'
Speaking to Metro, Edge recalled a tweet from season one in which a woman described how her sexuality had gone unmentioned in her house for years, and her uncertainty about whether her father quietly disapproved. She then watched the season one finale with her dad, who was 'growling at Suranne on screen to "just bloody kiss her"'.
Edge said: 'There have been a few things like that where I've been very touched at what the show has meant to people.' He added that 'it's also been a lot of fun to do as well'.
Complex identities at the heart
Rooted in true stories of people he's known who have navigated similar questions around their identity as Amy in season one, Edge has kept one ethos at the heart of the on-screen representation.
'It felt important to me that these two characters are very good at their jobs, and who they are together is one part of their identity, but their identities are complex rather than just being avatars for a set of social dynamics,' he explained.
Although he admits the show could have been a limited series, the real challenge was expanding it beyond the submarine. '[It's meant] trying to find the DNA of the show and sustain that while, by necessity, finding a theme to explore each time.'
New chapter for Amy and Kirsten
This season, Amy and Kirsten are now mothers to two children and more devoted to one another than ever. The murder of a covert British official at an isolated research station in Svalbard pushes their world to breaking point.
Kirsten re-enters the workforce after maternity leave and her time away to recover from her injuries. Edge teases: 'There is that question in returning of: Am I returning to the status quo? Is this about continuity, or is this a new chapter where I have things to prove and a sense of what I want to see change.'
The pair are 'forced to ask what they believe themselves, and across three seasons, we have had a big throughline around the idea of loyalty and justice and how those two things intersect.'
Geopolitical tensions in Svalbard
Svalbard acts as the epicentre for tensions between major nations like China, Russia and Britain, who all have conflicting interests. Edge said: 'This part of the world was absolutely off the radar of most nations for a long time. [Now], it is increasingly a place of tension with China's ambitions for the Arctic playing out there. Russian desire for territorial integrity and control of that domain is at work, but also European and NATO countries are invested in it for military and economic reasons.'
Capturing the desolate location was an 'enormous privilege', with Edge praising the BBC for supporting the ambition to go there. He said: 'I was just delighted that the boats are going through real ice rather than crew members shovelling bags of ice cubes in front of a toy trawler.'
As for whether we can expect any edge-of-your-seat action sequences like in seasons gone by, he's keeping his cards close to his chest. 'I can promise that the show takes care never to put its feet up in a hammock,' he concluded.
