Then You Run review — teenage heroines take on heroin dealers

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The summer between school and university is a time of newfound freedom, self-discovery and, in the case of four young women from London, a chance to see Europe while fleeing from gangsters whose heroin stash they’ve stolen. 

More giddy than gritty, Then You Run is a new thriller on Sky that takes teenage rebellion and naivety to an implausible but broadly diverting extreme. The trouble begins when the school-leavers opt for a trip to Rotterdam. Not for its mild climate or ship-congested shores, however, but because one of the group, Tara (Leah McNamara), is eager to reconnect with her estranged father. He, it transpires, has been working for his brother’s mob in the years since Tara’s mother’s death. 

Events immediately turn murderous when the three other girls join Tara at his deluxe drug den. Tensions rise between the friends — each of whom is a very clearly defined type — over what to do with millions of pounds’ worth of narcotics. While taciturn Tara is numbed, sensible Ruth (Yasmin Monet Prince) clashes with the impetuous Stink (Rye Lane’s Vivian Oparah) and suggestible Nessi (Isidora Fairhurst), who decide that the best course of action is to take Tara’s dad’s Ferrari and flaunt their haul. Word eventually reaches uncle Reagan (Richard Coyle), who in not-so-avuncular fashion decrees that his niece and her pals should be “dead by lunchtime”. 

What follows is a cross-country chase punctuated by the girls’ lively bickering and bantering, and a few confrontations about class and privilege. Meanwhile, someone even more sinister threatens to catch up with them. Each episode begins with a teasing, chilling vignette featuring an uncanny drifter who goes around indiscriminately murdering civilians with a serene smile.

These disquieting sequences will presumably be woven into the main story later, but they initially feel like they belong to another, even darker show entirely. The series struggles for tonal coherence at times, veering from comic farce to lurid violence, clammy freneticism to slick stylisation. But there’s just enough energy and intrigue to persuade you not to run from this one.

★★★☆☆

On Sky Max and NOW from July 7, 9pm