Berlin U-Bahn stars in new Idris Elba thriller “Hijack"

A new Apple TV series sees the Berlin U-Bahn take centre stage as Idris Elba plays a lawyer and corporate negotiator on a hijacked train.

New series Hijack centres Berlin

Think Speed, but instead of Keanu Reeves, it's Idris Elba, and instead of a bus on the LA freeway, it's the U5 between Hönow and Berlin Hauptbahnhof.

Idris Elba is on an underground train in Berlin, it is hijacked, and commuters are taken hostage, “above ground, authorities scramble to save hundreds of lives,” according to Apple’s own synopsis, “one wrong decision could spell disaster”. 

Elba is returning as Sam Nelson for the second series of Hijack, the first of which saw him negotiating with terrorists on a hijacked plane from Dubai to London. Already have déjà vu?

Film reviewer Movies and Munchies says it may look like one, but the second season of Hijack “isn’t a cash grab or even a desperate plea for Apple to extend the story. The plot and story progression make sense and fit within the narrative of the first season pretty well.”

Next Hijack episode due on January 21

New episodes of the season are released each week. Anyone eager to see those little yellow trains you know so well shuttle back and forth on the screen rather than in real life can tune in for the next Hijack episode on January 21.

And for the transport boffins, Hijack offers a look into the Berlin U-Bahn control room; it might not be the real one, but the plot is probably thicker than in the real one.