Flight RISK

RICHARD ARMITAGE and JING LUSI on taking to the skies for their new thriller

- SEAN MARLAND

It’s a beautiful summer’s day, but TV Times is sitting in the middle row of a dimly lit and airless jumbo jet in a hangar at White Waltham Airfield, Berkshire.

We’ve been invited on set for ITV1’s six-part thriller Red Eye and, as the show’s two stars, Richard Armitage and Jing Lusi, walk down the plane’s aisle towards us they exchange a knowing smile.

‘You’re actually sitting in my seat,’ laughs Richard. ‘You’re very welcome to it, though, because I spent the first two weeks of the shoot sitting there in handcuffs!’

The drama is set on a night flight from London  to Beijing with Fool Me Once star Richard playing cardiovascular surgeon Dr Matthew Nolan, who finds himself at the centre of an international conspiracy.

It begins with Matthew returning to London from a medical conference in China and being arrested at Heathrow for a murder he swears he didn’t commit, before being extradited back to Beijing.

London police officer DC Hana Li (Jing) is ordered to accompany Matthew on the flight, but when people start dying, she wonders whether he might be innocent after all.

Fasten your seat belts as Richard, 52, and Jing, 38, reveal more about their high-stakes show…