The Rig

When a dense, unexplained fog severs the Kinloch Bravo from the Scottish mainland, the rig's crew wakes to a situation that keeps getting stranger. With radios dead and supply routes cut off, engineers, officers and shore hands cope with dwindling resources, shifting weather and fraying nerves. Rivalries and hidden loyalties surface as practical problems pile up, and what starts as a survival problem slowly turns into something neither science nor superstition can easily explain. The series stays focused on the crew's attempts to keep the platform running, keep each other alive and understand the source of the threat, without revealing any of its later surprises.

Created by David Macpherson, The Rig premiered in 2023 and assembles a strong ensemble cast, including Emily Hampshire as Rose Mason, Iain Glen as Magnus MacMillan, Martin Compston as Fulmer Hamilton, Rochenda Sandall as Cat Braithwaite and Owen Teale as Lars Hutton. The show mixes drama and speculative elements, relying on confined sets and practical effects to sell the unsettling atmosphere.

Viewer and critic reaction landed in the middle range, reflected by a vote average of 6.714/10 from 201 votes. Many praised the performances, especially Hampshire and Glen, and applauded the show's slow-burn mood and visual sense of isolation. Others felt the pacing could be uneven and that some plot threads stretched longer than necessary. The series centers on themes of leadership under stress, the psychology of small groups in isolation, environmental danger and how believable human behavior changes when information disappears.

The Rig's visual motif, a blanketing fog and the claustrophobic oil-rig environment, prompted frequent comparisons to other confined-set thrillers and sparked lively online discussion about what the fog represents. Fans floated theories and debated character choices, and the show helped revive interest in maritime-set mysteries on television. Its strongest legacy so far is the mood it creates, and the way a remote industrial location becomes a pressure cooker for human drama and speculative dread.