10pm & 11pm THE TUNNEL - Crime Drama - A thrilling detective story set in a politically fractured Europe.
The Tunnel is set against the backdrop of Europe in crisis. When a prominent French politician is found dead on the border between the U.K. and France, detectives Karl Roebuck (Stephen Dillane, "Game of Thrones") and Elise Wassermann (Clémence Poésy, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II") are sent to investigate on behalf of their respective countries.
The case takes a surreal turn when a shocking discovery is made at the crime scene, forcing the French and British police into an uneasy partnership. As the serial killer uses ever more elaborate and ingenious methods to highlight the moral bankruptcy of modern society, Karl and Elise are drawn deeper into his increasingly personal agenda.
The first crime scene of The Tunnel is the Channel Tunnelwhich runs beneath the Strait of Dover between England and France.
The tunnel opened in May 1994 and serves the EuroStar passenger train, the EuroTunnel Shuttle for vehicles, and freight lines which travel the 31.4-mile tunnel daily between Folkstone in the county Kent in the UK, and Coquelles, near Calais in northern France. According to the The Telegraph, up to 400 trains pass through the tunnel each day, carrying an average of 50,000 passengers, 6,000 cars, and 180 buses. Working in cooperation with EuroTunnel, which operates the tunnel, The Tunnel is the first television drama to ever film on location there.
Part of the series, including the first episode, is set in Calais, a port city in northern France where tension over non-European migrants have simmered for years.
The city is the terminal for a ferry line to Dover in England and lies close to the Channel Tunnel. Migrants fleeing violence in countries such as Syria, Eritrea, Somalia and Afghanistan have gathered in unofficial camps, including a main one known as “the Jungle,” with the goal of eventually reaching the UK. Eurotunnel, the company that operates the Channel Tunnel, said that it has intercepted more than 37,000 migrants since January 2015. At the end of February 2016, the BBC reported that Calais officials claimed there were 3,700 people in the unofficial camps, while a nonprofit refugee aid group said the number was closer to 5,500.
THE TUNNEL airs back to back episodes every Thursday night beginning at 10pm
Episode 1 - Nov 10th at 10pm
A French politician’s corpse is found on the border between the UK and France in the Channel Tunnel, the 31.4-mile railway tunnel connecting the countries. When the body is revealed to be in two mutilated parts — the upper half belonging to the politician and the lower part to a Welsh woman — the laid-back British detective Karl Roebuck (Stephen Dillane) and awkwardly serious French detective Elise Wassermann (Clémence Poésy) must work together. The gruesome murders becomes the first in a chain of killings by “The Truth Terrorist,” who claims to be highlighting Europe’s social problems.
Episode 2 - Nov 10th at 11pm
The killer uses the Internet to publicly announce his first "Truth" about the law. A killer's video states that the killings were the first of five "truths", inequality before the law. Alain Joubert is run over by a high-speed train while fleeing pursuers. Stephen Beaumont moves Veronica and her son to a cottage to protect her from Anthony, Gemma Kirwan's pimp. Karl investigates Kirwan's disappearance, while Elise examines threats against Villeneuve. A coroner's observation that the victims were cut with a slaughterhouse saw leads her to an anti-Zionist farmer. Although she finds part of Villeneuve's body at the farm, Elise rules out the farmer as a suspect because he cannot speak English. The killer targets the elderly for his "second truth" and poisons the medication of some retirement home residents. Care worker Suze Beaumont, Stephen's sister and Anthony's lover, who steals drugs for intoxication, also falls victim.
Episode 3 - Nov 17th at 10pm
The second truth continues, as a pensioner appears on the killer's website. Using Hillier to spread his message, the so-called "Truth Terrorist" (TT) vows to continue his "second truth" in France, kidnapping veteran Jean-Claude Delplanque and livestreaming his victim's ordeal. A runaway couple find Delplanque, but TT captures them. Anthony instructs Veronica to run away to London, and troubled teenager Sophie Campbell runs away from her mother and is taken in by Benji, an outwardly trustworthy person. Karl and Elise find out that Delplanque is being kept in a cold-storage unit and is slowly freezing. The Truth Terrorist emails Danny Hillier the photographs of four wealthy business people who, he says, can save Delplanque.
Episode 4 - Nov 17th at 11pm
As Jean-Claude’s body temperature continues to plummet, the team tries to locate him. The Truth Terrorist demands that the four business people make a significant donation to charity. Joubert, one of those named, discovers her late husband's second family. Charlotte agrees to pay on behalf of the other plutocrats to eliminate all trace of Alain. Meanwhile, French police notice vibrations on the livestream, which audio analysis shows are caused by passing trains, narrowing Delplanque's location to two cold stores. Karl and Elise search one, but TT subdues Karl and escapes. Delplanque is dead; the runaway couple are found alive. Elise suspects that TT may know Karl because Karl has recently had a vasectomy and TT kicked him in the groin. Sophie starts to believe that Benji is mentally ill after finding a cupboard of unused prescription drugs. Benji's samurai-style suicide mission is foreshadowed as he wields a katana provided to him by TT.
Episode 5 - Nov 24th at 10pm
In an over-stretched mental health clinic, things take a turn for the worst. For the "third truth", Benji beheads several people, then kills himself after his arrest. Karl sees Charlotte Joubert regarding Alain's encrypted files, and she seduces Karl. Back home, he learns that his wife Laura is pregnant. Karl and Elise have to track down Sophie before she is found by the Truth Terrorist. They find her in an internet café. Elise uses Sophie to entrap TT and saves Sophie from his attack with a sniper rifle. Karl's colleague Chuks Akinade finds a picture of Gemma Kirwan on Beaumont's computer. Now a suspect, Beaumont murders Anthony, and TT kidnaps French police officer Laurent Delgado, who has been accused of murdering a teenager named Mehdi Cherfi.
Episode 6 - Nov 14th at 11pm
The Truth Terrorist plays with fire as he continues to toy with Elise and Karl.
Cornered on a Calais-bound ferry, Beaumont admits to killing Anthony, then kills himself. The Truth Terrorist demonstrates his "fourth truth" by burning alive four youths who had been arrested during the 2011 England riots. Laura learns of Karl's affair with Charlotte, while Karl learns that his son Adam has spent the night at Elise's flat. Calais police find out that French youths, including Mehdi Cherfi, had been killed in a riot. TT lures Mehdi's brother Yassin to an abandoned shop, where Laurent Delgado is imprisoned and forced to confess to killing Mehdi. Yassin returns home, where he is intercepted by Karl and Elise. Mehdi's father later finds the imprisoned Delgado too, but releases him instead of exacting revenge. TT shoots Delgado dead and burns Hiller's girlfriend alive after she refuses his demand to publish a text.
