The Rig is a new Amazon Prime Video horror series directed by John Strickland (Bodyguard, Line Of Duty) that follows the crew of the fictional Kinloch Bravo oil rig stationed off the coast of Scotland in the North Sea’s treacherous waters. When a strange fog rises as a party of labourers prepares to return to the mainland, a mystery force also begins to take hold as the squad finds itself cut off from any communication with the outside world. It’s then the trouble really starts.
As the crew tries to figure out what’s driving this mysterious force, a major accident leads them to question who they can truly trust. Allegiances are formed, bonds are shattered, and generational fault lines are exposed. The crew of the Kinloch Bravo is pushed to the breaking point in terms of both loyalty and endurance…
Casting
Martin Compston, of Line of Duty fame, has one of the main roles as Communications Officer Fulmer Hamilton, with Game of Thrones alumni Iain Glen playing Offshore Installation Manager Magnus MacMillan. Compston will reunite with his Line Of Duty co-star Rochenda Sandall, who portrays the rig’s medic Cat Braithwaite.
Game Of Thrones actor Owen Teale plays the rig’s Head Driller, Lars Hutton. Emun Elliot as rig mechanic Leck Longman, Bridgerton’s Richard Pepple as crew boss Grant Dunlin, Mark Bonnar as foreman Alwyn Evans, Abraham Popoola as crane driver Easter Ayodeji, Des star Stuart McQuarrie as Head Chef Colin Murchison, and Molly Vevers as roustabout Heather Shaw are among the other well-known actors appearing in the drama. Emily Hampshire (Schitt’s Creek) plays Rose Mason, a rig worker, and Calvin Demba (The Golden Circle) plays Baz, another rig worker.
Wild Mercury Productions is producing the thriller, which has been written by newcomer David Macpherson.
Derek Wax, Managing Director of Wild Mercury says: “The Rig is a character-driven, epic thriller, full of heart-grabbing action and bold, original ideas. David Macpherson captures life on a North Sea oil rig with extraordinary authenticity.”
“The Rig is a brilliant story, expertly told, in the most dramatic of settings,” says Georgia Brown, Director of European Amazon Originals for Prime Video. “It asks searching questions about nature and the environment, about what it takes to survive and to be human, which feels very pertinent to the world we are living in now. We’re delighted to add this to our growing roster of UK made Amazon Original shows.”
The Rig will be Amazon’s first original series shot entirely in Scotland. Filming will take place on a Scottish oil rig as well as at FirstStage Studios, a new studio complex founded by BAFTA-winning producer Bob Last and Jason Connery, son of late James Bond actor Sean Connery, at Leith docks.
All six episodes of The Rig will be released exclusively on Prime Video in over 240 countries sometime in 2022, although no official release date has been set yet because the thriller is still in production.
