What a view | Vagabond on Netflix: in South Korean take on Jason Bourne, a stunt man turns action hero

In case you’ve ever wondered what an East Asian, amateur Jason Bourne – transposed to North Africa via South Korea, on a revenge mission and wary of everyone – might look like, search no further than Vagabond, on Netflix.

The most obvious homage to this show’s big-screen predecessor is the free-running chase across the rooftops of Tangier, Morocco, with enough supplementary sequences of confrontation and insurance policy-nullifying driving to satisfy the most ardent action-thriller devotee. And that’s just the first episode of the 16-part debut series.

Never mind its slightly odd English title, because our champion, Cha Dal-geon (Lee Seung-gi), is hardly a tramp or a vagrant. Rather, he is a reluctant hero who finds himself halfway around the world and implicated in the sort of deadly, clandestine intrigues in which governments, security agencies and terrorists specialise.

Why Morocco? A grieving Dal-geon arrives there with other bereaved relatives after an airliner from Seoul is mysteriously brought down in the Mediterranean Sea. But on arrival, Dal-geon, thanks to his training as a stuntman, quickly turns action man, sleuth and avenger as he spots the supposed bomber.

And despite the prevailing winds of political correctness, no self-respecting, spy-flavoured action thriller would exist without a dash of glamour. Go Hae-ri (Bae Suzy, one-time member of K-pop girl group Miss A) is soon shown to be much more than the hapless embassy intern colleagues mistake her for. Handy with a gun, she’s eminently capable of looking after herself and Dal-geon, for whom she becomes officially responsible. Nobody believes his insane story about planes and bombers, and his flying fists have brought him trouble with the Moroccan police. Consequently, Hae-ri detests him – meaning romance is inevitable.