# The Tourist (TV series)

The Tourist is a 2022 drama-thriller black comedy television series. It stars Jamie Dornan as the victim of a car crash who wakes up in a hospital in the Australian outback with amnesia. The series premiered on 1 January 2022 on BBC One in the UK, the next day on Stan in Australia, and on 3 March on HBO Max in the US. The second series, set in Ireland, premiered on 1 January 2024 in the UK and Australia, and on 29 February 2024 in the US.

## Plot

The plot places the series in the thriller genre, but the dialogue and characters contain many elements of black comedy, and there is also a romantic sub-plot.

### Series 1

An Irishman wakes up with amnesia in an Australian hospital. Seeking answers, he encounters a local woman who remembers him and volunteers to help him rediscover his identity. What few clues he can find hint that he has a dark past from which he must escape before it catches up with him.

## Cast

* Jamie Dornan as The Man / Elliot Stanley / Eugene Cassidy
* Danielle Macdonald as Probationary Constable Helen Chambers
* Victoria Haralabidou as Lena Pascal
* Shalom Brune-Franklin as Luci Miller / Victoria / Emma Halliwell
* Greg Larsen as Ethan Krum

### Series 1

* Ólafur Darri Ólafsson as Billy Nixon
* Alex Dimitriades as Kosta Panigiris
* Genevieve Lemon as Sue
* Danny Adcock as Ralph
* Damon Herriman as Detective Inspector Lachlan Rogers
* Alex Andreas as Dimitri Panigiris
* Maria Mercedes as Freddie Lanagan
* Michael Ibbotson as Peter the Policeman
* Kamil Ellis as Sergeant Rodney Lemon Lammon
* The Umbilical Brothers (David Collins and Shane Dundas) as helicopter pilots Arlo and Jesse

### Series 2

* Conor MacNeill as Detective Ruairi Slater
* Olwen Fouéré as Niamh Cassidy
* Francis Magee as Frank McDonnell
* Réginal-Roland Kudiwu as Monsieur Tioté
* Diarmaid Murtagh as Donal McDonnell
* Nessa Matthews as Orla McDonnell
* Mark McKenna as Fergal McDonnell
* Siobhán O'Kelly as Claire McDonnell
* Nathan Page as Constable Alex

## Episodes

| Series | Episodes | Episodes | Originally released | Originally released | Originally released | Average UK viewers (millions) |
| Series | Episodes | Episodes | First released | Last released | Network | Average UK viewers (millions) |
| 1 | 6 | 6 | 1 January 2022 (2022-01-01) | 30 January 2022 (2022-01-30) | BBC One | 8.46 |
| 2 | 6 | 6 | 1 January 2024 (2024-01-01) | 28 January 2024 (2024-01-28) | BBC One | 3.69 |

### Series 1 (2022)

| No. overall | No. in series | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | U.K viewers (millions) |
| 1 | 1 | "Episode 1" | Chris Sweeney | Harry Williams and Jack Williams | 1 January 2022 (2022-01-01) | 8.74 |
| A man drives across the Australian outback, stopping briefly for a bathroom break. After the break, he is chased and run off the road by a cargo truck. The man wakes up in hospital and is interviewed by Probationary Constable Helen Chambers. He has no memory of who he is, why he is there, or what has happened to him. He has a note in his jeans pocket to meet someone at a cafe at a specified time the next day, in a town called Burnt Ridge. Following his only lead, The Man checks out of the hospital the following morning and goes to the cafe. Luci, the waitress, ushers him out of the cafe to go to the bathroom right before a bomb goes off. Billy arrives at the hospital with a bouquet of flowers looking for the man. When Luci is by herself, she deletes photos on her phone taken earlier with the man. The Man retraces his steps in Burnt Ridge and surrounds over the previous days and finds a mobile phone. He receives a call from a man who knows him, and who begs him for help because he's buried alive. |||||||
| 2 | 2 | "Episode 2" | Chris Sweeney | Harry Williams and Jack Williams | 2 January 2022 (2022-01-02) | 8.12 |
| The Man and Luci race to find the mystery caller who is buried in an oil drum in Currimundi. Luci and the man eventually find the mystery caller, but he is already dead. After following up with some hospital staff, Helen interviews Billy about why he went to the hospital. Helen's unsupportive fiancé, Ethan, is angry with Helen for working on the case, and thinks she should instead be spending more time with him. After seeing Luci's signature on the helicopter's insurance waiver, the man realizes that Luci is the person who wrote the note sending him to the cafe in the first place. Luci finally admits that she knows him, and that his name is Elliot Stanley. |||||||
| 3 | 3 | "Episode 3" | Chris Sweeney | Harry Williams and Jack Williams | 9 January 2022 (2022-01-09) | 8.60 |
| Luci informs Elliot they met in Bali six months earlier and had a passionate romance, which ended when Elliot killed a man who was trying to murder them. Over drinks, they rekindle their feelings. In the morning, they evade the police looking for them and return to Burnt Ridge. Helen worries Elliot is in danger. She ignores Ethan, who belittles her involvement in any serious police work, and also drives to Burnt Ridge. Billy tracks Elliott, Luci and Helen to a boarding house and attacks them with a shotgun. Elliot saves Helen's life and ends Billy's attack. Billy falls into an empty well and appears dead. Luci and Elliot separate, Luci not wanting another relationship with him. Policemen Rogers and Lammon find the buried man's body, and are informed about the shootout in Burnt Ridge. Rogers issues an arrest order for Elliott as a murder suspect. Helen, hearing Rogers' order on her radio, attempts to arrest Elliot, but he steals her gun and kidnaps Helen, forcing her to drive him. Luci returns to her home and finds Billy, who greets her as "Victoria". |||||||
| 4 | 4 | "Episode 4" | Daniel Nettheim | Harry Williams and Jack Williams | 16 January 2022 (2022-01-16) | 8.72 |
| Kostas, who takes hallucinogens, flies to Australia with his brother Dmitri, looking for Elliot. Luci fights off Billy, who dies after crashing into a window. After answering Billy's phone and talking to Kostas, she grabs a fake passport from a pile, but drops the others while leaving. Kostas and Dmitri's plane lands and they catch a taxi, but Kostas soon kills the annoying driver at Dmitri's urging. Helen and Elliot arrive at Luci's trailer, see the passports, and realize "Luci" is trying to leave the country. They set off after her but are stuck in a small town when Helen's car breaks down. Elliot and Helen rent a motel room, spend the night and become much closer. At an airport, Luci resolves to "end this" and places a phone call to India. A police constable recognizes Helen's car and Detective Rogers speeds to the motel. As Elliot attempts to surrender, Rogers shoots partner Lammon when he tries to call for backup. Helen hides as Rogers handcuffs Elliot and calls Kostas, saying he has Elliot. Kostas laughs and chats with "Dmitri", who is revealed to be a hallucination as Kostas is in the taxi alone. |||||||
| 5 | 5 | "Episode 5" | Daniel Nettheim | Harry Williams and Jack Williams | 23 January 2022 (2022-01-23) | 9.07 |
| After killing Lammon, Detective Rogers takes Elliot to Kostas. Rogers reveals Kostas has taken Rogers' wife hostage, forcing him to bring Elliot to Kostas. When they arrive, Elliot drinks water from Kostas's bottle that has LSD in it. Elliot is forced to lead them to a hidden bag of money he stole from Kostas. Elliot starts hallucinating. Kostas also continues to converse with the imaginary "Dmitri", such that he appears to be talking to himself. When Elliot starts digging for the money, he goes through a series of psychedelic experiences. There he encounters his various pasts including his father in his death bed, his acquaintance with Kostas and Luci, and Lena Pascal who says that she knows Elliot and is living in Adelaide. When he returns to consciousness, he finds the bag. In the mean time, Helen receives a tip from Luci as to Elliot's likely location and leads some police officers there, but finds out that it's a lie. She decides to forget Elliot and his troubles and returns to Ethan. Luci joins Kostas, Rogers, and Elliot and puts Kostas on a video call with his elder brother Dimitri, living in India. |||||||
| 6 | 6 | "Episode 6" | Daniel Nettheim | Harry Williams and Jack Williams | 30 January 2022 (2022-01-30) | 9.12 |
| Kostas refuses to accept Dimitri is alive. A shootout ensues; Kostas is killed and Luci injured. Rogers leaves to save his wife. Elliot grabs the money and drives away with Luci. She reveals that she is a con-artist named Emma Halliwell and had targeted Kostas and his drug-trafficking operation before meeting Elliot. They stole Kostas's money aided by another man named Marko and fled to the remote Australian outback. Kostas sent Billy after them, who buried Marko in the barrel. Luci dies of her injuries, Elliot hides the money and calls Helen asking for help. Ethan gives Helen an ultimatum to choose between him and Elliot, and Helen chooses to help Elliot. Now reunited, Helen and Elliot discover that Rogers has blamed them for the murders and police are after them. They take some hostages at a restaurant to get the police to bring Lena Pascal from Adelaide. Helen gathers evidence and proves that Rogers is lying. Elliot is taken to jail where he meets Lena Pascal, who reveals she was mutilated and others died because of Elliot, for whom they worked as 'mules'. Elliot is bailed, but cannot believe that he is not being charged for what he did to Lena. Elliot gives the bag of money to Sue, the owner of the Burnt Ridge boarding house, and tries to kill himself, but is later recovered safe, remembering everything. Learning of Elliot's past, Helen leaves him. The episode ends with a heartbroken Elliot swallowing a bunch of pills and Helen being persuaded to give Elliot a second chance, which she does. |||||||

### Series 2 (2024)

| No. overall | No. in series | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | BBC One broadcast | U.K viewers (millions) |
| 7 | 1 | "Episode 1" | Fergus O'Brien | Harry Williams & Jack Williams | 1 January 2024 (2024-01-01) | 1 January 2024 | 4.22 |
| Helen and Elliot travel to Ireland in response to a letter from 'Tommy', who claims to know about Elliot's past. When they go to meet him, Elliot is kidnapped by siblings Donal and Orla McDonnell and Donal's son, Fergal. Helen calls the Garda (police) and is taken to the police station by Detective Ruairi Slater, where she meets Niamh Cassidy - Elliot's mother. When Helen shows Niamh a photo from the kidnap site, Niamh promptly leaves. Helen follows her and witnesses Niamh stab and kill a man named Brian after unsuccessfully demanding information about her son being kidnapped by his cousins. Orla is shown on the phone confirming Elliot is trapped on an island; the call is to Lena Pascal, who is on a plane to Ireland. She is sitting next to Ethan Krum. ||||||||
| 8 | 2 | "Episode 2" | Fergus O'Brien | Harry Williams & Jack Williams | 1 January 2024 (2024-01-01) | 2 January 2024 | 3.59 |
| Helen brings Detective Slater to the site of the murder she witnessed, only to discover the site 'cleaned'. They are confronted by Frank McDonnell, a powerful crime lord. Elliot manages to escape aided by one of his captors, young Fergal McDonnell. Fergal tells Elliot he doesn't know why they kidnapped him. Frank castigates his son Donal, for starting a war with the Cassidys by kidnapping Elliot. Donal replies he did it to make Niamh Cassidy "give back what she took from you". At the police station, Helen discovers some surprising DNA evidence. She travels to Slater's home to discuss it, and finds Slater in the basement alongside a woman's decomposing body. Elliot sneaks into the McDonnell's headquarters, a whisky museum and finds an exhibit called 'The Disappearance of Elliot Stanley'. ||||||||
| 9 | 3 | "Episode 3" | Lisa Mulcahy | Harry Williams & Jack Williams | 1 January 2024 (2024-01-01) | 7 January 2024 | 3.33 |
| Frank states Elliot's real name is Eugene Cassidy. Elliot escapes, but cannot find or contact Helen. The agitated Slater imprisons Helen in his basement, stating the rotting body is his wife's. After she died from cancer, he was overcome and couldn't bear parting. Ethan Krum arrives at Elliot's hotel; they form an awkward partnership to search for Helen. They track her to Slater's house, but he lies successfully and sends them away. Helen bonds with Slater by role-playing his dead wife. They feel mutual sympathy and Slater releases Helen. Elliot and Ethan fight off attacks by the McDonnell gang. Lena Pascal meets up with the McDonnells and reveals she wrote the 'Tommy' letter. Elliot is taken to meet his mother, Niamh. Helen rings Elliot and they reunite at the hotel, where Helen reveals the DNA test shows Fergal McDonnell is Elliot's son. ||||||||
| 10 | 4 | "Episode 4" | Lisa Mulcahy | Harry Williams & Jack Williams | 1 January 2024 (2024-01-01) | 14 January 2024 | 3.50 |
| Elliot calls Frank and asks to meet Fergal. Frank makes the meeting conditional on Niamh Cassidy returning a missing case sent to him long ago by his dying father. The plane carrying the case crashed off the coast of Ireland and Frank contracted a diver named Elliot Stanley to retrieve it. Frank suspects (accurately) that Niamh killed Stanley and took the case. Elliot and Helen travel to Niamh’s but as she dismisses Frank’s story, McDonnell men attack the house. Elliot, Helen and Niamh escape. Donal's wife Claire confirms Elliot is Fergal's biological father, enraging Donal. Fergal contacts Elliot to arrange a meeting at his school. On the way, Helen and Elliot argue about remaining in Ireland, given the trouble it's caused. Elliot and Fergal talk briefly before Donal and his men arrive and, at gunpoint, take Elliot and Helen to meet Lena Pascal. Lena wants Elliot to suffer as she did, and shoots Helen in the stomach. ||||||||
| 11 | 5 | "Episode 5" | Kate Dolan | Harry Williams & Jack Williams | 1 January 2024 (2024-01-01) | 21 January 2024 | 3.65 |
| Elliot manages to disarm Donal and drive Helen away to get help. In hospital, comatose Helen has a dream in which she and Elliot return to Australia, but Helen's obsession with Elliot's past and Frank's missing case results in Elliot leaving her. In the dream, Helen's fears manifest in a frightening way. In real life, Elliot stays by Helen's bedside and is met by Claire McDonnell, who wants Elliot to kill her abusive husband. Donal learns of the set-up and turns it into a trap, but Elliot is saved by one of Niamh's henchmen. Helen awakes from her coma. Elliot meets Claire again, who is badly bruised. Elliot kidnaps Donal and takes him to an abandoned hotel where Donal shot and killed Elliot’s brother Joe, many years earlier, after mistaking Joe for Elliot. Elliot fires his gun. Helen learns of Donal’s murder through the TV news and assumes Elliot is responsible. ||||||||
| 12 | 6 | "Episode 6" | Kate Dolan | Harry Williams & Jack Williams | 1 January 2024 (2024-01-01) | 28 January 2024 | 3.87 |
| Elliot is arrested for killing Donal, which he strongly denies. Helen doesn’t believe Elliot and leaves him, stating that although she loves him, his apparent violent, criminal life is "too much". Frank suggests to a stunned Fergal that he can do something to “prove himself a true McDonnell”. Fergal asks for Elliot's help, they evade some McDonnell henchman in a car chase and go to Cassidy’s Pub. At the airport, Helen decides to stay and solve the Elliot Stanley mystery and solicits the aid of Ethan and Slater. With the additional help of Deirdre, Stanley’s widow, Helen eventually discovers the case. In addition, Deirdre implies that Elliot may be Eugene's biological father. The Cassidy and McDonnell clans meet up at Cassidy’s Pub, ready for a big showdown. Frank enters the pub alone carrying a bomb Fergal was supposed to smuggle in, but ditched. Elliot protects Fergal as Niamh reveals she killed Donal. Helen arrives with the case and shows its contents: love letters between Frank’s father and Niamh’s mother. Frank and Niamh are brother and sister. Helen and Elliot profess their love. In an epilogue, Helen and Elliot are living happily in Amsterdam. Helen watches Elliot display an unexpected talent as an unopened file they threw into a fire suggests Elliot/Eugene Cassidy was an undercover agent. ||||||||

## Production
### Development

In February 2020, it was announced that BBC One and Stan would co-produce a limited mystery-thriller series written by Harry and Jack Williams, directed by Chris Sweeney, and produced by Two Brothers Pictures. HBO Max later joined as a distributor for the US market. In January 2021, Jamie Dornan, Danielle Macdonald, Shalom Brune-Franklin, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, Alex Dimitriades, and Hugo Weaving joined the cast of the series. Damon Herriman replaced Weaving a week before filming started.

### Filming
#### Series 1

Filming, which began in March 2021 in South Australia, took place in the regional towns of Port Augusta and Peterborough, and the Flinders Ranges, with some scenes being shot in Adelaide. The production crew recreated Bali's Kuta Beach on Adelaide's North Haven Beach. Principal photography was concluded in July 2021.

#### Series 2

Filming for the second series started in April 2023 with Jamie Dornan and Danielle Macdonald returning. Principal photography began in April 2023 in Dublin, Ireland. Diarmaid Murtagh, Conor MacNeill, Olwen Fouéré, Francis Magee, Mark McKenna, Réginal-Roland Kudiwu and Nessa Matthews joined the cast alongside Dornan, Macdonald and Larsen. Shooting took place in and around Dublin with some scenes being shot in Bray, Djouce and the Wicklow Mountains.

## Release

The series is distributed internationally by All3Media.
The first episode of the series premiered on 1 January 2022 on BBC One in the UK, and the following day in Australia on Stan. On 3 March 2022 it was released on HBO Max in the US and Latin America, as well as on Amazon Prime in Canada.
Later all six episodes were released on BBC iPlayer. With an overall view of 18 million on its release, the series became the third most successful drama launch for the iPlayer. As of March 2022, it became the most watched series on iPlayer. The first episode was watched 6,428,000 times on iPlayer alone during 2022, making it the 3rd most viewed individual programme on the platform that year.
ZDF released the series on 12 August in Germany.
In March 2022, the series was renewed for a second series, with filming having started in April 2023. Set in Ireland, the second series premiered on 1 January 2024 on BBC One in the UK and on Stan in Australia. In the US, the series moved to Netflix after being dropped by Max, and premiered on 29 February 2024.

## Reception
### Series 1

Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported 97% approval based on 36 reviews with an average rating of 7.40/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "Jamie Dornan makes for a compelling guide through The Tourist, a beguiling drama that deepens its mystery with solid shocks and welcome moments of levity." On Metacritic, the show has a weighted average score of 81 out of 100 based on 11 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Critics particularly praised Dornan's and Macdonald's performances.
In a 4/5 stars review, Lucy Mangan wrote in The Guardian: "This outback thriller from the writer of The Missing is fun, stylish and clearly still has many twists up its sleeve." While Ed Cumming of The Independent addressed it as Dornan's best work until then, Lauren Morris in the Radio Times described it as "An unpredictable, edge-of-your-seat mystery that startles you with laugh-out-loud moments of ridiculousness." The Guardian ranked it number 24 on their list of best television shows of 2022. It also became the most-watched drama of 2022 in the UK.

### Series 2

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 96% of 23 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.60/10. The website's consensus reads: "The Tourist continues to twist and turn towards an unguessable destination, with Jamie Dornan and Danielle Macdonald's palpable performances making the journey wholly worthwhile along the way." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 78 out of 100, based on 10 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.
In a 4/5 star review in the Evening Standard, Nick Clark praised the writing and said that the second series was "tense, brutal and often laugh-out-loud funny". Awarding it 4/5 stars, Anita Singh of The Daily Telegraph felt that it was funnier than the first series. Adam Sweeting writing for The Arts Desk, said: "Sometimes the Williamses lurch too far in the direction of gratuitous weirdness." He lauded Dornan's performance stating: "But a big hand for Jamie Dornan, who negotiates slings, arrows and blows to the head with good grace, wry humour and quiet authority." Barbara Ellen of The Observer rated it 3/5 stars and said: "the mystical layer that set the initial series apart is largely missing", but she still found it "strong".

### Accolades

| Year | Award | Category | Recipient(s) | Result |
| 2022 | Logie Awards | Most Outstanding Actor | Jamie Dornan | Nominated |
| 2022 | Logie Awards | Most Outstanding Supporting Actor | Damon Herriman | Nominated |
| 2022 | Logie Awards | Most Outstanding Miniseries or Telemovie | The Tourist | Nominated |
| 2022 | Monte Carlo Television Festival Awards | Golden Nymph Award for Best Television Series | The Tourist | Won |
| 2022 | Monte Carlo Television Festival Awards | Golden Nymph Award for Best Creation | The Tourist | Won |
| 2022 | Monte Carlo Television Festival Awards | Betaseries Public Prize | The Tourist | Won |
| 2022 | Edinburgh International Television Festival | Breakthrough Award | Danielle Macdonald | Won |
| 2022 | TV Times Magazine Awards | Favourite Dramatic Performance | Jamie Dornan | Nominated |
| 2022 | AACTA Technical Crafts Awards | Best Cinematography in Television | Ben Wheeler (for episode 1) | Nominated |
| 2022 | AACTA Technical Crafts Awards | Best Cinematography in Television | Geoffrey Hall (for episode 6) | Nominated |
| 2022 | AACTA Technical Crafts Awards | Best Production Design in Television | Scott Bird (for episode 1) | Won |
| 2022 | AACTA Awards | Best Television Drama Series | The Tourist | Nominated |
| 2022 | AACTA Awards | Best Lead Actor in Television Drama | Jamie Dornan | Nominated |
| 2022 | Royal Television Society Crafts and Design Awards | Best Sound-Drama | Paul Cotterel, Paul Carter and Del Kenneally | Nominated |
| 2022 | Royal Television Society Crafts and Design Awards | Best Picture Enhancement | Dan Coles | Nominated |
| 2022 | Royal Television Society Crafts and Design Awards | Best Photography-Drama & Comedy | Ben Wheeler | Nominated |
| 2022 | Venice TV Awards | Best Drama | The Tourist | Nominated |
| 2022 | Location Managers Guild Awards | Outstanding Locations in Limited Anthology Television | Sarah Abbey, Mark Evans, Maria Humphreys and Scott McCarten | Nominated |
| 2022 | British Society of Cinematographers Awards | Best Cinematography in a Television Drama | Ben Wheeler | Won |
| 2022 | British Academy Television Awards | Best Photography and Lighting: Fiction | Ben Wheeler | Nominated |
| 2022 | National Film Awards UK | Best Supporting Actress in a TV Series | Shalom Brune-Franklin | Nominated |
| 2024 | Logie Awards | Best Drama Program | The Tourist | Nominated |