The first episode of Red Eye, a thriller that first aired last month on ITV, had viewers glued to their seats.

On landing in Heathrow, the main character is extradited straight to China for a crime that he claims he did not commit, having been denied a phone call or any form of legal representation.

This speedy turn of affairs may have made for gripping television, but as Diana Czugler explained to LAD Bible, in the real world, the extradition process is complex and lengthy, even more so when dealing with a country such as China, which does not have formal extradition treaty arrangements with the UK.

Diana said: “It’s just not possible to get someone sent back from the UK to China without a court hearing,” adding that this would normally take months.

Diana went on to clarify other details in the episode, such as whether someone is a UK citizen makes a difference or not, what safeguards are in place or whether a lawyer could attend to a client who has been arrested at an airport and seek to negotiate their release.

The extradition process may be drawn out and multi-faceted in real life, but as Diana concluded “that would not be very good television.”