The third series of the BBC police drama Vigil, which follows DCI Amy Silva on an adventure to the Arctic, was filmed in Scotland and Svalbard. Svalbard is a remote Norwegian archipelago situated between mainland Norway and the North Pole.
Suranne Jones, who stars as DCI Amy Silva, described the experience of filming in Svalbard as "amazing." She noted that she and co-star Rose Leslie visited locations not typically accessible to tourists due to the remote nature of their shoots. Jones also mentioned seeing reindeer daily and driving snow buggies.
Naomi Yang, who plays Shen Jia, recalled filming on a glacier in Svalbard with a small team. She highlighted the necessity of having someone with a rifle present to deter polar bears.
The first series of Vigil, which averaged nine million viewers, was filmed in a full-size replica submarine constructed at BBC Dumbarton Studios in Scotland. The second series, released in December 2023, transported viewers to the Persian Gulf and was filmed across Scotland and Morocco.