BBC One commissions brand new mystery thriller The Tourist

Piers Wenger, Controller of BBC Drama, and Charlotte Moore, Director of BBC Content, have commissioned writing duo Harry and Jack Williams’ brand new drama The Tourist for BBC One.
The Tourist is produced by award-winning production company Two Brothers Pictures (Baptiste, The Missing, Liar) in association with Stan - also announced as the Australian co-commissioning partner; Highview Productions; all3media international and the South Australian Film Corporation.

In the glowing red heart of the Australian outback, a British man is pursued by a vast tank truck trying to drive him off the road. An epic cat and mouse chase unfolds and The Man later wakes in hospital, hurt, but somehow alive. Except he has no idea who he is. With merciless figures from his past pursuing him, The Man’s search for answers propels him through the vast and unforgiving outback.

The Tourist is a character-driven mystery packed thriller, full of shocking, surprising, funny and brutal turns. Set in a world populated by quirky, enigmatic characters, off-beat black comedy punctuates high-stakes action. The six-episode series twists and turns through the dusty outback of Australia, to the frantic noise and lights of Singapore, and to the calm, luxury white-sand beaches of Bali.

At its heart however, is a story of self-discovery with a ticking timebomb underneath: As The Man starts to uncover the mystery of who he was, he’s also forced to ask who he is now - and fast. Will he unlock the secrets of his identify before those who are trying to kill him catch up with him?

Existential questions sit alongside breathless storytelling, in a very real and very human story that everyone can relate to, played out across the almost mythic, landscape of the outback, a modern-day Wild West.

Harry and Jack Williams, Writers and Managing Directors of Two Brothers Pictures, say: “The Tourist is a departure from anything we’ve written before. It isn’t an easy show to categorise - so we won’t. We are, however, hugely excited to have Chris Sweeney on board as director, and to be making this for the BBC. We’re thankful for their support of this ambitious project.”