Dias De Los Muertos:Nine Bodies In A Mexican Morgue.

Nine Bodies In A Mexican Morgue (BBC1/iPlayer, created and written by Anthony Horowitz, directed by Brian O'Malley and Viviane Andereggen) is pretty bonkers. If you've enjoyed stuff like The Tourist and Boat Party then you'll more than likely enjoy this absurd, but fun, story of a group of people who survive a plane crash in the Mexican jungle (flying from Guatemala City to Houston) only to find out there's a serial killer in their midst.

This highly unlikely premise works because the makers of Nine Bodies have turned it into a sort of weird mix of futurist Agatha Christie meets Lost with a side order of The Traitors thrown in. It's a highly unorthodox whodunnit and it's one that we know, from the off, that very few will survive. The title alone tells us that out of the ten people on the plane nine will die.

We just don't know which ones. We also don't know if the tenth person is the killer or if there is someone, or something, already lurking in the admittedly very beautiful jungle picking them all off. As it is they have to contend with practical concerns like extreme heat, lack of food, lack of drink, snakes, spiders, mosquitoes, boredom, fear, panic, suspicion, poisonous mushrooms, and something that lurks underwater in a deep pool. A barracuda maybe? Possibly something worse.

Living on a diet of monkeys and coatimundis doesn't look great. The survivors are Kevin (Eric McCormack), a former doctor who has lost everything, Zack (David Ajala), an insurance investigator whose confidence sees him position himself as some kind of group leader, and Sonja (Lydia Wilson), a seemingly practical Londoner who doesn't seem to show much interest in making friends with the others.

There's Carlos (Peter Gadiot), a Mexican wrestler - or luchador - who is preparing to take on his great rival, The Governor (Carlos fights under the alias of Rapido), and continues to work out in the jungle and then there's two couples. Travis (Olafur Darri Olafsson) and Lisa (Siobhan McSweeney) run a chain of hotels where MAGA supporters receive discounts. Travis has had a recent health scare but he scares the others by dint of carrying a knife and a gun. They both think Kevin is a "libtard"

Newlyweds Dan (a preposterously hammy Adam Long, he reminded me a bit of Anthony Scaramucci) and Amy (Jan Le) are on the way back from their honeymoon. Amy's got PTSD after witnessing a school shooting and Dan's a former con who's trying to go straight. Amy's PTSD causes her to imagine ghostly men with guns and other fantastic visions. But, of course, is she imagining that or is it real?

Nothing's clear. Pilot Octavio (Christian Contreras) is seriously injured in the crash and has a collapsed lung. He needs treatment fast but Kevin, the doctor, knows that to treat him, especially without anaesthetic, could be potentially lethal in itself. There's also a stewardess who dies instantly in the crash but the makers of the show don't dwell on her for long so neither shall I.

We occasionally jump forward a few days to see the authorities, including Zack's partner Claire (Deborah Ayorinde) in both America and Mexico trying to locate the lost plane and, later, the lost bodies. Cora (Carolina Guerra) who works at the airline involved certainly seems to be a person of interest while most of the Mexicans seem to spend their days sitting around smoking cigarettes.

There's lots of interstitial lizards, vultures, snakes, crows, and mushrooms to set the scene and a theme tune of Sweet Dreams by The Eurythmics (which feels a bit out of place to me), and there are more than a few squeamish moments. A very rudimentary medical procedure, a finger being chopped off, a body without a face, and a scene featuring a toenail in which I had to look away from the screen.

As well as the gratuitous gore there are scenes that will induce acrophobia, genuine WTF moments, and highly effective chill up the back moments. It's tense and compelling from start to finish and, as you might expect - think An Inspector Calls or The Mousetrap then run it through a very post-modern filter - everyone is set up to potentially be the villain of the piece. I certainly changed my mind multiple times and when it's all tied up, surprisingly nicely if utterly daftly, it's certainly not what I expected. The show is quite a strange choice for Saturday night BBC1 but it's a brave one and one that works. I'd like to visit the Mexican jungle but I think I'll skip the plane crash and the serial killer. Andale! Andale!