Supernatural Thriller 'The Rig' Wants to Be Eco-Horror, But Doesn't Drill Deep Enough

Amazon Studios have finally ventured north for their latest Brit property – The Rig marks the first Amazon Original produced entirely in Scotland. If you’re looking for Outlander’s sweeping vistas, you’ll be disappointed; The Rig is set almost entirely on an oil rig in the North Sea, filmed in relatively fresh-faced studios in the capital city of Edinburgh. The cast features a good range of English, Welsh, and even Canadian actors. However, it’s the majority Scottish voices that shine the brightest in a supernatural eco-horror genre-blending that, for the most part, stays on the right side of trashy fun, but its efforts to be taken as anything more noteworthy sink quickly.

The series kicks off with a chummy round-robin of our equal parts spritely and haggard crew, and after a clunky introduction, we soon get comfortable with what’s going on. This is Kinloch Bravo, led by the gruff but agreeable Magnus (Iain Glen, back in his Scottish accent), who has to liaise between their resident scientist and corporate representative Rose (Emily Hampshire) and an increasingly irascible crew.

They’re only going to get more disgruntled now their scheduled transfer home is postponed due to a mysterious fog cutting off all communication. What’s in the fog? What about this ash falling from it? When it starts rapidly healing crew members and washing tattoos off like they’re made of soap, it’s clear some advanced biological shenanigans have arrived.