Red Eye cast, plot and filming locations explained – all about the ITV drama

RED Eye is a new drama written by Peter A Dowling, who worked on Reasonable Doubt starring Samuel L. Jackson.

Here's everything you need to know about the cast and locations, plus how to watch the show.

Who is in the cast of Red Eye?

Richard Armitage

Richard Armitage is playing murder suspect Dr Matthew Nolan.

Armitage told about playing Nolan: "I started to look at it and I thought there's no mention of a wife, there's no mention of a family.

"He talks about his job a lot.

"Normally, I would write this whole biography for the character, but I just thought actually, it's more interesting to me to really not know who he is.

"There are moments where you start to think he's a bit more knowing than he's letting on and in his desire to keep his reputation intact, because he believes he's innocent, but he starts to doubt himself and he's starting to wonder what were they doing in Beijing?

"And who did he meet?

"He starts to believe what they're saying about him.

"So I thought that would be quite interesting."

Richard is known for his role as the king of the dwarves, Thorin, in The Hobbit.

He's starred in a number of Netflix hits adapted from Harlan Coben novels, including The Stranger and Stay Close.

In 2024, he appeared in Fool Me Once, alongside Michelle Keegan.

He's set to star in a new adaptation of the novel Missing You.

Jing Lusi

Jing Lusi plays Hana Li, a police detective tasked with chaperoning murder suspect Dr Matthew Nolan on his way back to China.

She is best known for her roles in Crazy Rich Asians, Gangs Of London and Lucky Man.

In an interview for she said: “I feel this is the first show in god knows how long that a British show that has an Asian lead.

“I think the last one probably was (early 1980s series) The Chinese Detective, and that name probably wouldn’t hold up these days.”

Jemma Moore

Jemma Moore portrays Lusi's half sister and journalist Jess.

Moore is a newcomer in TV and has starred in Netflix short movie Flashback and Lockwood&Co.

She told how important the new series is for East and Southeast Asian representation.

Jemma said: "It's so refreshing to see because it's happening so much in America, and I felt like in reading scripts and seeing what's been going on in UK television that we're kind of going further backwards, so this is a huge step for UK television."

'REPRESENTATION MATTERS'

In the interview she also mentioned that she thanked the producers in a letter for the character Jess.

She said: "I just never had this growing up.

"I never saw Jess growing up.

"And that would have been so important to me.

"I would have been able to then see that that was a place that I could get to, instead of having to continuously tread water through my career to get to this point.

"Representation matters."

Lesley Sharp

Lesley Sharp plays MI5 director Madeline Delaney.

Sharp is known for her roles in Clocking Off, Afterlife, Scott & Bailey, and Bob & Rose as well as movies Naked, Priest, and Vera Drake.

In a "statement from ITV" Sharp said about her hopes of viewers responds to the show:

I really just hope the series is the visual equivalent of a cracking good page turner, and at the end of every episode I would love people to say, “Oh my God, what’s going to happen next?”

"And then either head straight for ITX to binge it all in one go or look forward to the next episode like we all used to…water cooler TV magic."

Other cast member include:

• Dan Li as Toni Zhang
• Zoe Telford as Amber Hurst
• Lucianne McEvoy as Kate Ward
• Thomas Chaanhing as Chén
• Jonathan Aris as John Tennant
• Xiangyi Tan as Tiffany
• Oliver Maltman as Steven Hurst
• Robert Gilbert as Simon King
• Rick Warden as Chris Peele
• Aidan Cheng as Wú
• Cash Holland as Ruth Banks
• Kevan MacKenzie as Len Delaney
• Mido Hamada as Mike Maxwell
• Tai Yin Chan as Rén Yúnxi
• Daphne Cheung as Mrs Ruǎn Yuè
• David KS Tse as Minister Aìguó Táng
• Ken Bradshaw as Officer Miller

What is Red Eye about?

Red Eye is set on a flight from London to Beijing.

While escorting murder suspect Dr Matthew Nolan to Beijing, police detective Hana Li uncovers a wider conspiracy.

During the flight Hana is hit with disasters and realises that there is more to the murder than she thought.

Thousands of feet below, her younger half-sister and aspiring journalist Jess is trying to piece things together herself, while MI5 director Delaney scrambles her resources in a race against time.

However the question remains: what exactly did Dr Nolan do during his fateful business trip?

Where was Red Eye filmed?

Red Eye was filmed in various locations in London including Stansted Airport, streets in London and Liverpool Street Station.

The airplane scenes were shot in a real plane over six weeks.

How can I watch Red Eye?

Red Eye premieres on ITV at 9pm on Sunday, April 21, 2024.

New episodes will be broadcast weekly.

However, after the first episode has aired, all episodes will be available to stream on ITVX.

There are six episodes in total.