Katherine Kelly to Lead New Channel 4 Crime Thriller 'In Flight'

If our entertainment landscape is to be believed, flying the friendly skies is much more complicated than it used to be. From Hijack to Red Eye, long-haul flights are suddenly full of tension and peril, and audiences can’t seem to get enough of these stories’ propulsive, high-stakes nature. Now, Channel 4 is getting in on the act with In Flight, the story of a flight attendant whose life (and career) is thrown into chaos when she is blackmailed into smuggling drugs after her son is arrested. Katherine Kelly (Mr Bates vs The Post Office) stars as Jo Conran, a single mother forced to take desperate measures to save her son, serving a fifteen-year sentence in a Bulgarian prison for a murder he swears he did not commit. 

When Conran is approached by a gang who somehow knows all about her situation, she’s blackmailed into helping them move drug shipments using her job as an airline hostess as cover. Forced into a world of corrupt cops, hired killers, and unknown dangers to keep her child alive. Kelly said in a statement, “I am really excited to be taking on the role of Jo, and I can’t wait to tell her compelling story. I am delighted to be working with Buccaneer Media again, and it’s a joy to be filming in Belfast.”

Alongside Kelly, In Flight also stars Stuart Martin (Miss Scarlet & the Duke) as Cormac, a critical criminal gang member, and Ashley Thomas (The Serpent Queen) as Dom, a customs officer at a central London airport. The series cast also includes Bronagh Waugh (Ridley) as Melanie, Henry Cadby (Everything Now) as Sonny, Corinna Brown (Heartstopper) as Kayla, and Ambreen Razia (Starstruck) as Zara. 

Here’s the series’ description. 

In Flight is set against the fast-paced, high-pressure world of global air travel and will follow Jo’s relentless quest to protect her family while entangled in a dangerous criminal syndicate.

Mike Walden (Whitstable Pearl) and Adam Randall (Slow Horses) co-wrote and wrote the six-part drama, which Chris Baugh (Wreck) directed. “In Flight is our spin on the noir genre, a high-stakes, stylish, romantic thriller with iconic characters and nerve-shredding action,” Walden and Randall said in a joint statement. “Channel 4 is the perfect home for our story, and we’re so excited to be collaborating with such a brilliant team. Jo is a character close to our hearts. She is an ordinary woman facing extraordinary odds. We can’t wait for audiences to meet her.”

In Flight is produced by Buccaneer Media. Executive producers include Anna Burns, Tony Wood, and Richard Tulk-Hart for Buccaneer, Rebecca Dundon and Simon Judd for Fremantle, as well as Walden, Randall, and Baugh. Brendan Mullin is series producer, with Gary Davy as the Casting Director.  

Set across locations including London, Bangkok, Bulgaria, and Istanbul, filming for In Flight is currently taking place in Belfast. The series is expected to arrive on Channel 4 in 2025 and, hopefully, will have found an American distributor by then.