Rebecca Ferguson is phenomenal in the first series of the thrilling Silo, Harriet Walter ain’t bad either
“We do not know when it will be safe to go outside”
I think I’ve said before that the best way to get me to watch a programme is to start its second series! I’ve had Silo on my to-watch list since it premiered on AppleTV+ last summer but only now that its second season has started, have I gotten round to watching it. Based on Hugh Howey’s Silo series of novels, the show was created by Graham Yost, whose film credits include a little-known thriller called Speed….
In an indeterminate dystopian future, society has been reduced to some 10,000 people, living in a giant underground silo that stretches 144 stories down. No-one can remember why they ended up there as all records of earlier times have been destroyed, so the community live by a strict code of regulations, rules ostensibly meant to protect them from the great unknown.
But under such authoritarian rule, there’s always rumblings of dissatisfaction and as hints that the truth is being concealed by the enforcers of the brutal Judicial, a trail of bodies of those she loves and respects leads engineer Juliette Nichols (Rebecca Ferguson) to stop at nothing to find out more. Nominated to be sheriff by the previous holder of the title, one of those who dies, these 10 episodes follow that quest.
Its set-up may feel rather familiar for sci-fi but the richness of the world-building here is second-to-none. Even in this situation, class divisions have sprung up depending on what section of the silo one lives in and a rulebook called The Pact governs all interactions, mainly designed to suppress rebellious spirits from the Downdeeps and to allow the authorities to banish anyone suspected of causing trouble by sending them out to ‘clean’.
As a microcosm of a population study, fascinating subjects come into play. Issues of fertility and eugenics, the suppression of technological progress, the collective agreement to accept the blank space of their history. Resplendent in his black polo neck, Common’s Robert Sims is an ominous figure as the head of security, Tim Robbins’ head of IT less immediately threatening but no less insidious in his need for control and Tanya Moodie is strong as the judge under their thumb.
Harriet Walter is customarily excellent as Walker, an engineer from Down Deep and Juliette’s mother-figure in the face of her mother’s death – significant events around which are revisited in flashbacks – and her father’s apparent indifference (a moving Iain Glen). There’s excellence all around the supporting cast though – David Oyelowo’s first sheriff, Geraldine James’ warm mayor, Sophie Thompson’s quirky fertility counsellor – all adding to sense of real quality and gripping storytelling. I won’t be waiting a year to start Series 2 I can tell you that much!
