The Control Room episode one
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The Control Room on BBC One: Six burning questions we have after watching episode one

Iain De Caestecker was brilliant as caught-in-the-headlights Gabe

The Control Room episode one was a gripping hour of TV that left us gagging for answers – as any decent thriller should.

The tense new mini-series gave us exactly what it promised…

It was edge-of-your-seat drama, which left us desperate for episode two (Monday July 18 2022).

Yes, some of it was wildly implausible, but it still worked for us as a Sunday night heart-rate-raiser.

And lead actor Iain De Caestecker was brilliant as out-of-his-depth Gabe, an emergency call handler in Glasgow whose normal life is plunged into danger by one phone call.

So what questions do we want answering in the next instalment of The Control Room on BBC One?

***Warning: spoilers from episode one of The Control Room ahead***

Iain De Caestecker as Gabe in The Control Room
Iain De Caestecker as Gabe in The Control Room (Credit: BBC One)

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The Control Room episode one: Why is Anthony blackmailing Gabe?

In The Control Room episode one, Gabe received a call while working as an emergency call operator.

A distressed lady, later revealed to be a childhood friend of Gabe called Sam, revealed she’d killed someone.

And suddenly she realised she recognised Gabe on the other end of the line.

Suspend your disbelief readers!

Gabe is then hurtled into her world, and – behind the back of his bosses – helped her to clean up her mess.

At the end of episode one of The Control Room, Gabe’s colleague Anthony discovered the truth.

In a very stupid move, Gabe had left his mobile phone on his desk and the equally stupid Sam didn’t stop ringing him even though she knew he was at work ‘pretending to be normal’.

When Anthony picked up the phone, Sam immediately gave the game away by saying “Gabo, is that you?”

If you weren’t screaming at the TV, you’re much calmer than us!

Gabe was then forced to blurt out the truth to Anthony, who said he’d keep his secret… For a price.

He told Gabe: “I’ll do this for you, if you do something for me.

“I’m in a mess. But you can get me out.”

What mess is Anthony in, and what does he want Gabe to do for him?

Was Sam’s crime really an accident?

Sam claimed she killed her boyfriend Haz in self-defence.

She told Gabe that he had “ruined her life” and given her “two years of hell”.

But do we believe her, and did she really fall upon Gabe by accident?

If Sam doesn’t drive as she claimed, how was she going to get rid of Haz’s body without Gabe’s help?

And why does she have no one else to turn to?

Smells a bit fishy to us!

Gabe and Sam in The Control Room
Gabe’s life is turned upside down by Sam in The Control Room (Credit: BBC One)

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The Control Room episode one: Why is Gabe prepared to risk everything for Sam?

Sam clearly had a very strong affect on Gabe.

The minute she re-entered his life, he was a ball of sweat and nerves.

The man was suddenly prepared to lie to his colleagues, the police, and basically anyone else who he stumbled across.

When they met in a burnt out shack in the woods near where they grew up, he agreed to move a dead body for her.

I mean, it’s a big ask for someone you haven’t seen for years!

What hold does Sam have over Gabe? Why does he harbour this loyalty towards her?

As kids, Gabe had said to Sam: “I’ll always sort it for you.”

Does he owe her a debt?

In The Control Room episode one, Gabe says that Sam “isn’t just anyone”.

So who is she to him, and why?

What happened in the past between Sam and Gabe?

Hearing Sam’s voice after what must be years sent Gabe into a spiral.

He’s an ordinary bloke, doing a heroic job, who is suddenly forced to confront the demons of his past.

Via flashback, we learnt that Sam and Gabe were childhood friends, and both “weirdos”.

While Gabe’s mum lay dying, he snuck out to meet Sam on torch-lit adventures.

So far, so normal childhood japes.

But there was obviously a fire, and possibly someone hurt.

Viewers saw a young hand making a phone call in a phone booth, and the words “I’ve killed him” spoken.

What happened in the fire, who started it, and why does everyone seem to hate Sam?

Gabe’s attempts to find her went down like a bowl of cold sick with his dad Ian, and other locals including Robbo and Eilidh.

The very mention of Sam’s name angered Gabe’s dad, while Robbo said: “Why are you looking for her?

“You think it’s okay now? You think it’s gone away?”

Meanwhile Gabe told Sam “no one around here would think it was a good idea for me to be in touch with you”.

Did Sam set the fire in the woods, and could it have led to a death? Or did Sam cover for Gabe, which might explain why he thinks he owed her a debt?

Anthony blackmails Gabe in The Control Room
Anthony blackmails Gabe in The Control Room (Credit: BBC One)

The Control Room episode one: “I’ll hold a good thought for you”

How on earth did Sam recognise Gabe?

Okay, so we know we’re watching a thriller not a documentary.

We’re no expecting 100 per cent believability.

Our House got away with loads of insane ‘coincidences’ but it was still a great series.

In The Control Room, the whole premise surrounds Sam calling Gabe to report her boyfriend was “bleeding everywhere” after “hitting his head”.

Things changed when Gabe said: “I’ll hold a good thought for you.”

Something about this sentence made her immediately know it was her childhood friend Gabe.

What is the significance of the saying “I’ll hold a good thought for you”?

How did Gabe get away in the van?

There were three things that were especially hard to swallow in episode one of The Control Room.

Firstly, that police officers searching for a body allowed Gabe to drive away from the murder site in a BIG WHITE VAN.

The van has the dead body in it. Or, at least, we think it does because we haven’t actually seen it yet!

Secondly, that a drunk driver just happened to be driving past at THAT EXACT MOMENT and rammed into the side of the BIG WHITE VAN.

Never mind that Gabe was then able to drive away, after being involved in said car crash.

Lastly, the cherry on the hard-to-swallow-cake was when Anthony was able to answer Gabe’s phone…

Is Gabe, played by Iain De Caestecker in the cast, the only man in Britain who doesn’t have a security lock on his phone?

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The Control Room continues on Monday July 18 2022 and concludes on Tuesday July 19 at 9pm on BBC One.

What’s been your favourite BBC One drama recently? Leave us a comment on our Facebook page @EntertainmentDailyFix.


Helen Fear
TV Editor