the tourist movie based on book

Is Netflix’s The Tourist Based on a True Story or a Book?

In Netflix’s ‘ The Tourist ,’ a man has to face the consequences of his actions, but the problem is that he remembers nothing about his past and his actions. A car accident in the desolation of the Australian Outback leaves Jamie Dornan’s character with absolutely no memory of who he is and where he comes from. He soon realizes that he doesn’t have the luxury of time and must figure out his origins as soon as possible because whatever he did in the past has put him on the bad side of some really bad people who want to kill him. Created by Harry Williams and Jack Williams, the show weaves an entertaining tale of mystery, action, and humor and makes one wonder if such a thing has really happened to someone.

The Tourist is a Fictional Tale With Existential Questions at Its Heart

‘The Tourist’ is a completely fictional show developed by Harry and Jack Williams, the duo known for their work on shows like ‘ Fleabag ’ and ‘Call the Midwife.’ They have also created shows like ‘ The Missing ’ and ‘Baptiste,’ the crime thrillers that have been immensely popular. However, after working on a lot of dark thrillers, the duo wanted to do something that would be less grim than their previous works and be more fun, not just for the audience but also for them. They wanted to explore the genre and deliver something with a completely different tone than what they are known for.

The idea for ‘The Tourist’ developed from a scene they had in mind. The scene, which eventually became the first scene of the TV show, was about a guy being chased by someone and then having an accident, following which he forgets everything about himself. Who is he, where did he come from, and how did the accident happen? All these questions are just the tip of the iceberg. The premise opened the door for them to delve into deeper existential questions. The protagonist not only has to dodge the attempts on his life and fight killers who are after him for unknown reasons, but he also has to figure out whether he himself is one of them. And if so, then can he accept his reality?

The first scene was compelling enough, and when the duo presented the idea to others, people would prod them for “what happens next.” The writers had no idea, and that, in a way, made the writing process even more fun for them. They hadn’t created any backstory for the protagonist prior to the first scene. He was just as much of an enigma to them as he was to himself and the audience at the beginning of the show.

Another thing that decided the look and the vibe of the show was its setting. The creators wanted something to echo the “vast expansive emptiness” inside the protagonist after the accident and loss of his memories, and the Australian Outback proved to be a perfect setting. The idea had started with an Australian setting, but they also briefly considered other places, including America. In the end, however, they came back to the original setting.

Jack Williams revealed that the idea for Australia came from his own experience while visiting the country. He’d been there a very long time ago, and the sheer scale of the place, especially the Outback, stuck with him. On the roads in the Outback, he considered the possibility of being stranded and how no one would know that he was stranded and there would be no one around to help him. When the idea for ‘The Tourist’ was being explored, he realized that putting the protagonist in the same situation in the same place opened up a lot of avenues for the story. It was an extremely remote and terrifying place to be stranded for a person of a different nationality with no memory of who he was and where he came from.

When it came to the characters, the writers focused on writing them realistically, giving them their own detailed backstories that feed into their present actions and dictate the kind of person they turn out to be. The actors brought their own personal experiences to the parts, and with the general humor mixed with the vulnerability their characters required, it was easier to slip into their skin and become those people. All of this, combined, makes ‘The Tourist’ an excellent story, delivered with such an eye for detail that it makes the audience relate to the characters, giving a realistic touch to an otherwise unbelievable series of events.

Read More:  Where Is The Tourist Filmed?

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The Tourist Is An Identity Crisis, But Worse

Jamie Dornan's new BBC thriller is full of twists and turns.

Landing on screens on New Year’s Day to see us through the dark days of January, BBC thriller The Tourist , starring Jamie Dornan is bound to be our next TV obsession. The story of Dornan’s character, known simply as “The Man”, is an off-beat black-comedy-action series that promises plenty of “shocking, funny and brutal turns”, but is The Tourist based on a true story?

Set against the glowing red heart Australian outback, the audience is thrown straight into the action from the start. Driving through the vast and dusty scenery, we’re introduced to The Man as he is being chased by a tanker truck in an attempt to drive him off the road. “An epic cat-and-mouse chase unfolds and the man later wakes in hospital, hurt, but somehow alive,” the BBC teases. “Except he has no idea who he is.”

Over the course of the six-part series, the nameless hero searches for clues that might give away who he really is whilst merciless figures from his past continue to pursue him. “Are you sure you really want to know who you are?” is one of the questions that rings through the show’s explosive trailer. Will he work out his past before it catches up with him, and possibly kills him?

The story of The Tourist comes from the acclaimed writers of The Missing , Baptiste and Liar Harry and Jack Williams, who own and run Two Brothers Pictures. Although there is a book called The Tourist by American author Olen Steinhauer , this six-part series is not based on it, and the thriller was written and created especially for the BBC, HBOMax and Stan.

The Man’s search for answers propels him through the vast and unforgiving outback. “At its heart, however, is a story of self-discovery with a ticking time-bomb underneath: as The Man starts to uncover the mystery of who he was, he’s also forced to ask who he is now — and fast,” adds the BBC. “Will he unlock the secrets of his identity before those who are trying to kill him catch up with him?”

Joining Dornan on the small but explosive screen is Line of Duty‘s Shalom Brune-Franklin and Bird Box‘s Danielle Macdonald . Also joining the cast is Icelandic-American actor Ólafur Darri Ólafsson ( True Detective ), Alex Dimitriades ( The End ) and Damon Herriman ( Mindhunter , Justified ), who has joined the series as Detective Inspector Lachlan Rogers.

The Tourist airs on BBC One at 9 p.m. on Jan. 1, 2022, and will be available to stream on iPlayer shortly after.

• Films based on books
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The Tourist

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• 3 Production
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Synopsis [ ]

The story follows Milo Weaver who is an agent in the secret branch of the CIA that specializes in black ops with the code name “The Tourists. [1]

• TBA as Milo Weaver [1]

Production [ ]

On October 3, 2023, Deadline reported that 20th Century Studios was developing a film based on The Tourist with Pablo Trapero directing. [1]

References [ ]

• ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Pablo Trapero To Direct Adaptation Of Olen Steinhauer’s ‘The Tourist’ For 20th Century
• 1 Bradley Uppercrust III
• 3 Inside Out 2

Review: 'The Tourist' is a ferocious thriller that relentlessly keeps you hanging on

Talk about a binge watch!

Talk about a binge watch! “The Tourist,” on HBO Max in a blast of six, one-hour episodes, is a ferocious thriller that’s also ferociously funny. Starring Jamie Dornan as an Irishman suffering amnesia in the Australian outback, the series is—to recoin a phrase—must-see TV.

The plot kicks in hard in Episode 1 as Dornan drives down a dusty road with a monster truck on his tail. Waking up battered and bruised in a hospital, he can’t even remember his name. Known only as “The Man” until the end of Episode 2, The Man—like Guy Pearce in “Memento”— must put together the puzzle of his life with crucial pieces missing.

“The Tourist” relentlessly keeps you hanging on. In the book world, they’d call it unputdownable. Each episode of the script by Jack and Harry Williams (“The Missing”) ends in a cliffhanger that whips you into the next episode. Forget about sleep.

It’s clear that Chris Sweeney (who directed episodes one to three) and Daniel Nettheim (who helmed the other half) have seen a lot of Coen brothers movies, especially “Fargo” and “Raising Arizona” with their deliciously deadpan blend of mirth and menace. If you’re going to borrow inspiration, why not swipe from the best.

MORE: Review: 'Licorice Pizza' one of the best films of the year

And Dornan, free from the cartoonish excess of the “Fifty Shades of Gray” trilogy, carries the whole thing with his starshine and burgeoning talent as an actor in “The Fall” and “Belfast.” Dornan is so good, you’ll follow him anywhere, which is just what “The Tourist” needs.

Dornan finds a perfect partner in Aussie dynamo Danielle Macdonald as Helen Chambers, a traffic cop with ambitions to rise in the ranks. The sweetness of Macdonald’s funny, touching and vital performance brings a nurturing humanity to the evil-doings surrounding her.

Can the diet-obsessed Helen, stuck with a controlling fiancée (Greg Larsen), discover herself by helping The Man recover his memory? Their attraction, repped by a burrito emoji, brings heart to a series that aims to blow the doors off with shocks and exploding violence.

For instance, there’s the dude who keeps calling The Man while buried alive in a secret grave? And why does the detective inspector, played to the hilt by Damon Herriman, seem less reliable than the gangsters and drug dealers who occupy the periphery of the episodes?

MORE: Review: 'The Tender Bar' deals a winning hand

Truly terrifying is the best way to describe Ólafur Darri Ólafsson as Billy, the hulking American cowboy who drove The Man off the road and yet keeps comparing everyone he meets to his beloved mother. The scene between Billy and Helen will have you biting your nails to the quick.

And what of Shalom Brune-Franklin (“Line of Duty”) as Luci, the flirt who meets The Man at a diner that explodes minutes after they leave it. Luci volunteers to help The Man chase down his past. Or is she hiding something. Hint: Everyone in “The Tourist” is hiding something.

There’s no way I’ll spoil the fun by telling you who’s hiding what. Packed with high-voltage suspense and twists you don’t see coming, “The Tourist” also poses tangled questions about the nature of identify. You can tell The Man is afraid of what he might learn about himself.

Put yourself in his place, which is exactly what “The Tourist” wants you do. It’s one of the reasons this thrill-a-minute series has the staying power to haunt your dreams. The final episode is open-ended enough to suggest there might be a Season 2. Count me in.

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Once a Spy . . .

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By Marilyn Stasio

• March 12, 2009

So Variety says George Clooney’s production company has acquired the film rights to “The Tourist,” an espionage thriller by Olen Steinhauer. Clooney himself is reported to be keen on playing the lead role of Milo Weaver, a black-ops agent with a clandestine branch of the C.I.A. that refers to its agents as Tourists and specializes in acts of extreme Tourism. Well, who wouldn’t want to play Milo? He’s a spy to die for — a decent man sickened by the dirty work he does and desperate to get out of the game, but coerced into one last operation that could cost him his beloved wife and the 6-year-old stepdaughter he dotes on. To dramatize Milo’s bona fides as a devoted family man, Steinhauer brazenly sets several key scenes at Disney World. In one tense action sequence, Milo introduces “his girls” to a retired Russian agent who mysteriously joins them on their train ride up Space Mountain. Shortly after this assignation, Milo performs the sacrificial act of leaving wife and child behind when he flees the land of Disney only minutes before Homeland Security agents pound on the door, intent on bringing him in for the murder of another agent.

Even if he didn’t look like George ­Clooney, Milo would be the kind of principled hero we long to believe still exists in fiction, if not in life. The only drawback to this warm close-up of the protagonist is that it skews the novel, rendering it more of a character study than a full-bodied espionage novel. There’s plenty of plot, but it’s messy rather than complex; and while the cast is thickly populated with career spooks from France, Russia, China, Sudan and components of the former Yugoslavia, few of them develop into worthy adversaries, and their agendas are so murky that we’re not particularly anxious to get back to them.

One promising story line involves a scheme to dry up China’s oil sources by destabilizing certain African governments, primarily Sudan, that supply it. But there are no clocks ticking in either Beijing or Khartoum because we never visit these venues or meet the human targets. More disappointing, the man originally assigned to carry out the assassinations (a brilliant tactician known as the Tiger, but blessed with the wit to mock that flashy moniker: “I guess that, after the Jackal, they needed an animal name”) dies somewhere around Page 60. But before he shuffles off into narrative limbo, this terrific villain passes on some professional secrets to Milo in exchange for vengeance on the operative of “the global Islamic jihad” who injected him with the AIDS virus.

Once the Tiger dies, Milo has to settle for less worthy adversaries, including a Russian oligarch with pedophiliac tastes and a red-headed assassin with many phony names but no personality. The plot convolutions keep our minds occupied as we ponder the significance of the Chinese colonel’s compromised laptop and the Sudanese energy minister’s meeting with the Russian oligarch, but the only truly pressing questions involve Milo. Will he lose his family to his job? Betray a friend and colleague? Commit suicide like his poor mother? Escape that pit-bull Homeland Security agent?

Steinhauer is on solid ground whenever his focus is on Milo, whose sense of alienation from his country and its causes has just about paralyzed his will to act — at one low point, even his will to live. “There’s no center to your history,” the Tiger taunts him, “no motivation connecting the events of your past.” It’s the kind of charge that can send an existential hero into a serious depression.

The novel contends that 9/11 changed all the old-school rules of conduct in the espionage game. “We can bomb and maim and torture to our heart’s content,” one old agency hand explains, “because only the terrorists are willing to stand up to us, and their opinion doesn’t matter.” But as Milo knows, deceit and betrayal thrive in such an amoral climate. You can’t trust anyone anymore — except, maybe, your own worst enemy, and only if he’s on his deathbed and wants a favor. “It was a basic truth of Tourism,” Milo reminds himself, “that you trusted no one. Yet, if you had to trust anyone, it had better not be another Tourist.” This is the kind of tough thinking (and strong writing) that surfaces whenever Steinhauer gets to what really interests him — the crippling disillusion and nerve-snapping paranoia that breed in closed cultures where trust is absent and internal intrigue rampant. “It was a miserable job,” Milo tells himself. “It was a miserable life.”

Life is even more miserable in the unnamed Iron Curtain country Steinhauer has depicted in an ingenious series of novels that open in 1948 and advance through the cold war era, yielding a group portrait of paranoia, cynicism and despair. In the pitiless environment of these books, broader political issues are always hanging over people’s heads. Steinhauer applies the same paranoia-cynicism-­despair matrix to “The Tourist,” but it’s set in a different political landscape. Outside the poisonous environs of the Tourism department, there’s nowhere for Milo to focus his moral anger — no truths to defend, no values to preserve, no civilization worth saving. In this vacuum, he finds no greater treasure than his own family, and while Steinhauer makes Milo a mensch for his times, there’s something deeply troubling when the most exciting scenes in an international thriller are set in the Magic Kingdom.

THE TOURIST

By Olen Steinhauer

408 pp. Minotaur Books. $24.95

Marilyn Stasio writes the Crime column for the Book Review.

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The Tourist

Revolves around Frank, an American tourist visiting Italy to mend a broken heart. Elise is an extraordinary woman who deliberately crosses his path. Revolves around Frank, an American tourist visiting Italy to mend a broken heart. Elise is an extraordinary woman who deliberately crosses his path. Revolves around Frank, an American tourist visiting Italy to mend a broken heart. Elise is an extraordinary woman who deliberately crosses his path.

• Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
• Christopher McQuarrie
• Julian Fellowes
• Johnny Depp
• Angelina Jolie
• Paul Bettany
• 528 User reviews
• 326 Critic reviews
• 37 Metascore
• 4 wins & 4 nominations

• Frank Tupelo …

• Elise Clifton-Ward

• Inspector John Acheson

• Chief Inspector Jones

• Reginald Shaw

• The Englishman

• Colonnello Lombardi

• Sergente Cerato
• Tenente Narduzzi

• Tenente Tommassini

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• Trivia Angelina Jolie admitted in an interview with Vogue Magazine that the only reason she agreed to do this movie was because she knew it would be a "quick shoot" in Venice, Italy.
• Goofs At the cafe in Paris when Elise orders her breakfast, the waiter says "un croissant beurre". On her plate, when she finishes reading her letter is a "pain au chocolat".

Elise : Invite me to dinner, Frank?

Frank Taylor : What?

[Elise gives Frank a look]

Frank Taylor : Would you like to have dinner?

Elise : Women don't like questions.

Frank Taylor : Join me for dinner.

Elise : Too demanding.

Frank Taylor : Join me for dinner?

Elise : Another question.

Frank Taylor : [thinks for a moment] I'm having dinner, if you'd care to join me.

[Elise smiles at Frank]

• Connections Featured in The 68th Annual Golden Globe Awards (2011)
• Soundtracks Cat's Pyjamas Composed by Jack Alfred Courtesy of Extreme Music

User reviews 528

• Dec 2, 2018
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• What is 'The Tourist' about?
• Is 'The Tourist' based on a book?
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• December 10, 2010 (United States)
• United States
• United Kingdom
• Official site (France)
• Production Notes
• Du Khách Bí Ẩn
• Venice, Veneto, Italy
• Columbia Pictures
• Spyglass Entertainment
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $100,000,000 (estimated)
• $67,631,157
• $16,472,458
• Dec 12, 2010
• $278,780,441

Technical specs

• Runtime 1 hour 43 minutes
• Dolby Digital
• Dolby Surround 7.1

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'The Tourist': US release date, cast, plot, trailer, and all you need to know about the twisty thriller

Jamie Dornan heads the cast of epic drama 'The Tourist'.

The Tourist has brought mystery and intrigue to BBC1 and now the drama is heading to HBO Max for US viewers. 

Created and penned by award-winning brothers Harry and Jack Williams, whose previous credits include Liar , The Missing and Baptiste , the series sees Jamie Dornan as a mysterious character known as "The Man," who faces huge danger as he searches for his identity in the Australian outback.

Here’s everything we know about The Tourist ...

'The Tourist' release date

The Tourist arrives on HBO Max in the US on Thursday, March 3. 

The thriller first aired on BBC1 in the UK on Saturday, Jan. 1 2022 (New Year's Day) and now all episodes are available on streaming service BBCiPlayer. 

What is the plot of 'The Tourist'?

The twist-laden, action-packed, darkly comic drama follows The Man, a Brit, who has ended up Down Under and finds himself being chased by a massive truck, which is attempting to drive him off the road. 

After a breathtaking pursuit, The Man wakes up some time later in hospital but has no idea of his name or identity. But as people from his past return to haunt him, he faces a race against time to get to the truth about who he once was and who he is now before he is discovered by those who want to silence him forever...

“ The Tourist has some of the most exciting scripts I’ve ever read,” says Jamie Dornan , best known for The Fall and Fifty Shades of Grey film. 'I wanted The Man to come across as likeable because then the things you hear about him are more shocking as the shadiness of his past catches up with him…”

“We're hugely excited about this show. It's tonally breaking new ground for us, and having Jamie Dornan on board is the icing on the Australian cake,” add the Williams brothers.

Who does Danielle Macdonald play in 'The Tourist'?

The drama also stars Danielle Macdonald ( Unbelievable, Dumplin’, Patti Cake$ ) as rookie probationary constable Helen Chambers.

“Helen is a fascinating and intriguing character, I fell in love with her on page one,” says Macdonald. “I ended up reading all the episodes in one sitting because I couldn’t put them down! I’m so excited to get to be a part of this incredible project and I can’t wait to start filming alongside the amazing cast and production team.”

Who does Shalom Brune-Franklin play in 'The Tourist'?

Shalom Brune-Franklin ( Line of Duty, Roadkill ) is enigmatic waitress Luci, who crosses paths with The Man.

"This story is unique and I'm excited to be a part of bringing it to life with this brilliant team,” reveals Brune-Franklin. “I'm looking forward to adding to the thrilling mystery of these scripts with the wonderfully intriguing character of Luci. It's very exciting to be working on such a great project in Australia — it's going to be a lot of fun."

Who else is in the cast of 'The Tourist'?

Damon Herriman ( Mindhunter , Justified ) plays quirky cop DI Lachlan Rogers, and replaces Hugo Weaving who had to leave the production due to scheduling issues. Meanwhile Ólafur Darri Ólafsson ( Trapped, The Missing ) also appears as Billy Nixon, an American who gets embroiled in the case, and Alex Dimitriades ( The End, The Cry ) is Kosta Panigiris, a wealthy but shady businessman. 

How many episodes of 'The Tourist' are there?

There are six 60-minute instalments.

Is there a trailer for 'The Tourist'?

Yes! The action-packed teaser features explosions, helicopters and guns. It begins with The Man driving along in the Outback singing to the radio before a truck shockingly crashes into him. As he later sits sipping a beer he muses, "Why would somebody want me dead?" We then get glimpses of several other characters including an anxious-looking Helen and Luci before we see The Man lying in his hospital bed suffering from amnesia and the ominous words What He Doesn't Know Could Kill Him are emblazoned on the screen.

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Caren has been a journalist specializing in TV for almost two decades and is a Senior Features Writer for TV Times , TV & Satellite Week and What’s On TV magazines and she also writes for What to Watch.

Over the years, she has spent many a day in a muddy field or an on-set catering bus chatting to numerous stars on location including the likes of Olivia Colman, David Tennant, Suranne Jones, Jamie Dornan, Dame Judi Dench and Sir Derek Jacobi as well as Hollywood actors such as Glenn Close and Kiefer Sutherland.

Caren will happily sit down and watch any kind of telly (well, maybe not sci-fi!), but she particularly loves period dramas like Call the Midwife , Downton Abbey and The Crown and she’s also a big fan of juicy crime thrillers from Line of Duty to Poirot .

In her spare time, Caren enjoys going to the cinema and theatre or curling up with a good book.

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Is HBO Max's Miniseries 'The Tourist' Based on the Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie Movie?

Mar. 4 2022, Published 11:34 a.m. ET

A bad case of amnesia can steal a person's fondest memories right from their noggin, usually temporarily. But what if your memories were vital to your survival? What if they're the key to escaping disaster and saving your life? This is the situation that plagues the protagonist of HBO Max's 2022 miniseries The Tourist — which sees British brothers Jack and Harry Williams as its creator.

Starring Fifty Shades of Grey 's Jamie Dornan as "The Man," The Tourist follows his whirlwind of a journey after he's struck by a truck in the middle of the Australian Outback. The crash (which doesn't seem to be accidental) caused The Man to experience amnesia, which is problematic considering threatening figures from his past are out to get him. We, the audience, know just as much as the lost and confused protagonist, which makes the plot's unraveling even more fun.

And if the series' title rings a bell, you may have seen the 2010 thriller The Tourist — which stars A-listers Johnny Depp ( Pirates of the Caribbean ) and Angelina Jolie ( Maleficent ). With a ghastly Rotten Tomatoes score of 20 percent, the movie was a flop. So, does HBO Max's The Tourist have anything to do with Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's film?

Is HBO Max's 'The Tourist' based on Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's 2010 film?

No, the new HBO Max miniseries — which currently holds a perfect Rotten Tomatoes score of 100 percent — is not based on the 2010 movie. Said movie follows a broken-hearted math teacher Frank Tupelo's (Johnny Depp) wild adventure in Europe after meeting a cryptic, beautiful stranger, Elise Clifton-Ward (Angeling Jolie), on a train. Frank finds himself in the middle of a deadly game of cat and mouse, as a group of men seems to think he's an internationally wanted criminal.

As you can see, the plots are wildly different. The miniseries and the movie have nothing to do with each other. However, 2010's The Tourist is based on Jérôme Salle's 2005 French film Anthony Zimmer , which was nominated for a prestigious César Award.

Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp in 2010's 'The Tourist'

But wait, there's more! Author Olen Steinhauer wrote a New York Times bestselling espionage novel called The Tourist , which was published back in 2009. In short, the story centers on a CIA agent named Milo Weaver, who works for a secret branch specializing in black ops, deemed the Tourists. As a Tourist, Milo utilizes his skills for protection as well as assassination.

Again, this book has nothing to do with HBO Max's limited series.

Jack and Harry Williams have described their series as "f--king weird."

"I think it's surprising, not just plot-wise but I think tone-wise. The places it goes are weirder and stranger than episode one even would suggest and I think people like that," Jack Williams told Radio Times of the series' overall feel.

"It doesn't settle into the rhythms of what you might expect a thriller like this to be about. I think we hit a lot of those notes and there's action and there's definite emotion and jeopardy and tension and narrative surprise," he continued.

If you're feeling down on your luck just know it can't be worse than the Man's. The Tourist is now streaming on HBO Max. pic.twitter.com/H4QWKCsJnv — HBO Max (@hbomax) March 3, 2022

"But there are also moments that, frankly, are pretty f--king weird. We're very delighted that the BBC and HBO Max understand and let us do it," Jack went on. Clearly, the show boasts some unusual elements, ones that perhaps the audience isn't ready for. But hey, we love creators that strive to take risks.

All six episodes of The Tourist are currently streaming on HBO Max.

Wait, Where Are We? Here's Where HBO Max's Amnesia Drama Miniseries 'The Tourist' Was Filmed

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Australian screen industry body demands global streamers pay content levy, ‘the tourist’: first look at jamie dornan thriller series set at bbc & hbo max; hugo weaving exits cast.

By Jake Kanter

Jake Kanter

International Investigations Editor

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Here’s your first look at 50 Shades Of Grey star Jamie Dornan in The Tourist , the mystery thriller limited series from  Fleabag  production company Two Brothers Pictures .

The story centers on a British man (Dornan) who finds himself in the glowing red heart of the Australian outback, being pursued by a vast tank truck trying to drive him off the road. An epic cat-and-mouse chase unfolds, and the man later wakes in hospital, hurt, but somehow alive. Except he has no idea who he is. With merciless figures from his past pursuing him, The Man’s search for answers propels him through the vast and unforgiving outback.

Other cast includes Danielle Macdonald ( Dumplin’ ), Shalom Brune-Franklin ( Line of Duty ), Ólafur Darri Ólafsson ( Trapped ), and Alex Dimitriades ( The End ). Hugo Weaving ( The Lord of The Rings ) has exited the series, however, due to a scheduling issue. He has been replaced by Damon Herriman ( Mindhunter ).

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The Tourist is a Two Brothers Pictures production for the BBC , in association with Highview Productions, All3Media International, the South Australian Film Corporation, HBO Max, Stan, and ZDF. The six-episode drama has been written by producers and screenwriters Harry and Jack Williams, who alongside Christopher Aird and Andrew Benson will serve as executive producers for Two Brothers Pictures and Tommy Bulfin for the BBC. Lisa Scott produces and Chris Sweeney executive produces and directs. International sales are handled by All3Media International.

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HBO Max continues stealth drops of some of the best drama mini-series on television. Last year highlights included “The Head” and “ Station Eleven ,” and they start 2022 strongly with the fantastic “The Tourist,” a twisty tale that plays like an Aussie version of “ Fargo .” With sharp dialogue, clever plotting, and career-best work from Jamie Dornan and Danielle Macdonald , this is a great little thriller, a show that constantly keeps you guessing and entertained in equal measure.

The “ Belfast ” and “ Fifty Shades of Grey ” star plays an unnamed man (at least for a while) who is driving through the very remote Australian outback. He stops at a station to use the bathroom, banters with the guy behind the counter, and hits the road again. Looking in the rearview mirror, he sees a truck gaining on him with remarkable speed. The Man twists off the road to avoid it and the trucker follows, revealing through a POV from his cab that this is very intentional—he’s trying to kill this tourist. They race through the desert until The Man’s car crashes. He wakes up in a hospital with no memory of who he is or how he got there.

Enter a small-town officer named Helen Chambers (Macdonald), engaged to an awful man named Ethan ( Greg Larsen ) and thrust into a mystery about who this handsome Irishman is in a hospital bed. When The Man finds a note with a time and a location in his pocket, he heads to a small town called Burnt Ridge, where he meets a woman named Luci ( Shalom Brune-Franklin ) who might know about his past, ends up crossing paths with a sociopath ( Ólafur Darri Ólafsson ) who clearly wants him dead, and gets a phone call from a man who’s been buried underground. And then things get even weirder.

Created by the people behind the excellent “ The Missing ” (which aired stateside on Starz), the writing on “The Tourist” is a metronomic back and forth between reveals and how those reveals propel the narrative in a new direction. Pushing their way through all the chaos are Dornan and Macdonald, both phenomenal. Dornan finds a quirky, unsettled way to play a man who doesn’t know who he is without resorting to the cliché of the lost soul. If anything, he leans into more of a blank slate interpretation of amnesia, playing a guy who’s more open to what comes next because he can’t remember what came before. And Macdonald is charming and so incredibly likable that she becomes the heart of a show that can be cold at times.

Echoes of “ Memento ” and “Fargo” aside, “The Tourist” also has its own quirky personality. Some of those quirks get a bit extreme in late-season episodes in ways I can’t spoil, but the show is never boring. It’s a reminder that the Dornan who was so great in “ The Fall ” is still out there, and I hope it leads him to more bizarre, challenging roles like this one. There’s an argument to be made that there’s an even-better 100-minute movie in this six-episode mini-series, but that’s not the world we’re in right now. A story like this has a better chance to be told in the TV system than the mid-budget film one, and the writers don’t drag their feet or spin their wheels like so many streaming thrillers. They’re constantly moving our hero forward, keeping us uncertain about his past and even his moral center.

Some will argue that “The Tourist” gets too convoluted and I’ll admit that I enjoyed the playful uncertainty of the first half of the season more than the intensity of the second half. Although the show does get deeper in how it unpacks lies we tell ourselves and those we listen to from other people. It turns out that everyone on "The Tourist" has a secret or two, and almost all of them could use a car accident to reset the hole they've dug for themselves. 

I'm not sure how intentional it is but the show never stopped reminding me of some of my favorite early Coen films—the noir danger of “ Blood Simple ,” the open roads of “ Raising Arizona ” (and a bearded hunter who seems unkillable), Macdonald’s very Marge Gunderson character—and yet these nods to greats are embedded in a breakneck plot that never slows down enough to distract from its own inspired storytelling. Take the trip.

Brian Tallerico

Brian Tallerico is the Managing Editor of RogerEbert.com, and also covers television, film, Blu-ray, and video games. He is also a writer for Vulture, The Playlist, The New York Times, and GQ, and the President of the Chicago Film Critics Association.

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The Tourist (2022)

360 minutes

Jamie Dornan as The Man

Danielle Macdonald as Helen Chambers

Shalom Brune-Franklin as Luci

Damon Herriman as D.I. Lachlan Rogers

Alex Dimitriades as Kostas

Ólafur Darri Ólafsson as Billy

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Is The Tourist on BBC One based on a book?

• Joanne Kavanagh
• Published : 20:44, 9 Jan 2022
• Updated : 20:46, 9 Jan 2022

JAMIE Dornan has returned to our TV screens in the hotly anticipated BBC One series The Tourist.

And some fans may be wondering if the series is based on a book.

Is The Tourist based on a book?

Although there is a book called The Tourist, the BBC One show is NOT based on it.

In fact, The Tourist has been written for TV by top writers Harry and Jack Williams.

The two brothers are known for their talent and are responsible for many huge BBC dramas.

Jack and Harry - who own and run Two Brothers Pictures - also wrote The Missing and Baptise .

Speaking to the BBC, the brothers said: “We're hugely excited about this show.

"It's tonally breaking new ground for us, and having Jamie Dornan on board is the icing on the Australian cake.

"We're thrilled to be working with Chris Sweeney again as well as the BBC and HBO Max."

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What will happen on the tourist.

Get ready for a roller-coaster ride on The Tourist

Leading actor Jamie Dornan plays a British man who finds himself in the glowing red heart of the Australian outback , being pursued by a vast tank truck trying to drive him off the road.

An epic cat and mouse chase unfolds and the man later wakes in hospital, hurt, but somehow alive. Except he has no idea who he is.

With merciless figures from his past pursuing him, The Man’s search for answers propels him through the vast and unforgiving outback.

At its heart however, is a story of self-discovery with a ticking timebomb underneath: as The Man starts to uncover the mystery of who he was, he’s also forced to ask who he is now - and fast.

Will he unlock the secrets of his identify before those who are trying to kill him catch up with him?

When can I watch The Tourist?

The series started on BBC1 o n Saturday, January 1, 2022 , at 9pm.

And episode four will be shown on Sunday, January 9, 2022 on BBC One.

After episodes have aired you'll be able to watch them on the iPlayer.

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In the US the series is set to air on HBO Max, but there is no release date yet.

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