As “The Tourist” opens, a man is driving down a highway in the Australian outback in high spirits, beating his hands on the steering wheel in time to Kim Carnes singing “Bette Davis Eyes.” His mood shifts as he realizes an enormous truck is following him, determined to run him off the road.

Even after the car goes off the road, the truck chases it through the sand, then rams it until it’s destroyed, leaving our hero to die.

But the tourist, played by Jamie Dornan, is tough. He wakes up in a hospital with no recollection of anything, except for the tune “If I Didn’t Care” by the Inkspots, which he requests be played as he undergoes an MRI.

Helen, the probationary constable played by Danielle Macdonald, shows up to question him. She gets nowhere in her interview, but the case intrigues her, even though her verbally abusive fiance and her mean colleague want her to drop it, not so subtly telling her that she’s incapable of being anything but a beat cop, and an overweight one at that.

The truck driver, played by Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, shows up in distinctive boots and a reddish cowboy hat, one step behind our amnesiac hero.

Hospital personnel describe him as “creepy.” He habitually tries to connect with people by referring to his mother.

“My mother was a nurse. You people do great work.” “My mother was a beat cop. You people do great work.” Spoken with a smarmy smile.

The tourist is not entirely without resources. He has a cell phone, and once it’s charged he looks at it eagerly.

Only to be asked for a pass code, which he can’t remember.

He has a slip of paper with a note telling him to be at a certain restaurant at a certain time in a certain booth. Luci Miller, a striking server played by Shalom Brune-Franklin, sits down with him, and they wait for the anonymous person to show up.

Only after they leave the restaurant does a bomb explode, taking out the section of the restaurant where they were sitting.

It would seem that somebody doesn’t like this guy.

As the James Bond franchise has long known, there’s nothing like a good chase scene to draw you into a show. The series continues to keep interest high, mingling danger, mystery and plenty of humor.

“The Tourist” was filmed in Australia in 2021. After airing on British and Australian networks, it made its way to the U.S., first on HBO Max and now on Netflix. There are six episodes in the first series. A second series will launch on Feb. 29.