Hijack is a 2023 British thriller written by George Kay and directed by Jim Field Smith. It stars Idris Elba, Archie Panjabi, Neil Maskell, Eve Myles, Christine Adams, Max Beesley, Kate Phillips, and Ben Miles.
Elba plays Sam Nelson, a business negotiator on a flight from Dubai to London to repair his relationship with his estranged family. However, the plane is soon hijacked by a gang of mysterious gunmen, and only Sam can keep the situation from escalating. The series premiered on Apple TV+ June 28, 2023. Originally billed as a miniseries, a second season was announced
in January 2024.
Previews: Trailer
Hijack contains examples of the following:
- Ax-Crazy: Throughout the end of the hijacking, due to his brother's death and the original plan being derailed, Stuart constantly goes berserk on passengers, especially to Sam Nelson. In the final scene, Stuart then attempts to barbarically kill Sam for ruining everything, showing many signs of severe unstability throughout.
- Big Bad Duumvirate: Edgar Janssen & John Bailey-Brown, the leaders of the Cheapside Firm.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing:
- The sweet old man helping the student athlete? He's actually one of the hijackers.
- A random woman on the plane is actually another, separate hijacker who takes over the plane when given the signal by the crime bosses.
- Cooperation Gambit: Sam insists on cooperating with the hijackers because he doesn't want to act rashly and scare them into killing everyone.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Despite everything he's done as co-leader of the Cheapside Firm, John Bailey-Brown is shocked & disgusted when greedy Edgar wants to let flight KA-29 crash into Central London and kill hundreds for all the money he can get out of their bear raid.
- Forced into Evil:
- Practically every hijacker on flight KA-29, including the double agents Amanda and Alec, is being coerced into their roles by the Big Bads, as well as everyone who works for the Cheapside Firm.
- Hidden Agenda Villain: The hijackers take over the plane, but seem intent on making sure the plane doesn't change course and that their actions are kept secret from the ground, at least for a while. They don't target any specific passengers, so it's not clear why they want the plane. It's eventually revealed that they are trying to free two crime bosses. They also have their own plans.
- Hostage Situation: The whole series is premised on this. In the first episode, the hijackers threaten to kill a flight attendant the captain had an affair with in order to force him to unlock the door to the cockpit.
- I Have Your Wife: The Big Bads, especially Edgar, do this on a large scale by holding hostage the friends & families of their henchmen to ensure their obedience.
- Public Secret Message: The pilot makes specific, minor course corrections that can be passed off as drift to the ignorant hijackers but are known to ground control as distress calls in the absence of the ability to communicate directly.
- Screaming Plane Baby: Among the passengers on the place are an English family with some very… energetic children.
- Weapon for Intimidation: One of the passengers deduces that the hijackers are firing blanks based on the types of handguns and lack of damage to the plane, as well as their unwillingness to execute unruly passengers. Sam insists on confirming that first, giving enough time for one of them to retrieve a bag containing live rounds in case of an emergency.
- Would Hurt a Child: The Big Bads hold the daughter of one of the airport security agents hostage with her father in order to let the hijackers on board the plane. When they are on board, the daughter and father are slain.
