Utopia (TV series)

Utopia
Genre	Thriller, Drama
Created by	Dennis Kelly
Written by	Dennis Kelly
Directed by	Marc Munden Wayne Che Yip Alex Garcia Lopez
Starring	Alexandra Roach Nathan Stewart-Jarrett Paul Higgins Fiona O'Shaughnessy Adeel Akhtar Oliver Woollford Neil Maskell Paul Ready Geraldine James James Fox Michael Smiley
Composer(s)	Cristobal Tapia de Veer
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language(s)	English
No. of series	1
No. of episodes	6
Production
Executive producer(s)	Karen Wilson Jane Featherstone Dennis Kelly
Producer(s)	Rebekah Wray-Rogers
Editor(s)	Luke Dunkley David Charap
Location(s)	Liverpool[1]
Cinematography	Ole Bratt Birkeland
Running time	70 minutes (Including Advertisements)
Production company(s)	Kudos Film and Television
Broadcast
Original channel	Channel 4
Original run	15 January 2013 (2013-01-15) – present
External links
Official website
Production website

Utopia is a British conspiracy thriller that debuted on Channel 4 on 15 January 2013.^[2][3] The show is written by Dennis Kelly and stars Fiona O'Shaughnessy, Adeel Akhtar, Paul Higgins, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Alexandra Roach, Oliver Woollford and Neil Maskell.^[4][5] A second series of Utopia has been commissioned.^[6]

Plot

The story follows a small group of people who find themselves in possession of the manuscript sequel of a cult graphic novel called "The Utopia Experiments" which is rumoured to have predicted the worst disasters of the last century. This leads them to be targeted by an organisation known as 'The Network', which they must avoid to survive. Using the manuscript, they must uncover the meaning hidden in its pages before the disasters depicted become reality.^[7]

Cast

Main cast

• Fiona O'Shaughnessy as Jessica Hyde, a woman who has been on the run from The Network for as long as she can remember. Her father created the Utopia manuscripts.^[8]
• Alexandra Roach as Becky, a soon-to-be post-grad student. Her mother died when she was young; in her late teens, her father contracted a mysterious illness. Convinced there is a conspiracy surrounding her father's death connected to the Utopia manuscript, she is determined to find out the truth.^[9]
• Nathan Stewart-Jarrett as Ian Johnson, an IT consultant in his late twenties, who still lives with his mother.^[10]
• Adeel Akhtar as Wilson Wilson, a survivalist geek and a conspiracy nerd. He is tortured by Arby and Lee on Jessica's whereabouts and almost blinded. After being forced to go on the run, Jessica lies to Wilson about his father's safety, and Becky later finds out that he has been murdered by The Network, though she decides not to tell him this.^[11]
• Oliver Woollford as Grant Leetham, a troubled 11-year-old boy. Originally pretending to be 24 years old on the forum the group first contact each other on, Grant ends up with the Utopia manuscript which he later hides with Alice, a girl he meets. He is later framed for a mass murder at a school by Arby and is forced to go on the run.^[12]
• Paul Higgins as Michael Dugdale, a senior civil servant who has recently got Anya (Anna Madeley), a Russian prostitute, pregnant. As a result, he is blackmailed by members of The Network and is forced to complete tasks for them.^[13]
• Neil Maskell and Paul Ready as Arby and Lee, killers who work for The Network, who are searching for Jessica Hyde and the Utopia manuscripts. Wilson is tortured by Lee, but manages to escape, shooting Lee dead in the process. Arby's name is later on revealed to be initials for "Raisin Boy", with his real name being Pietre.

Recurring cast

• Alistair Petrie as Geoff, a politician and head of the Department of Health. Michael's boss, he is also an inside man for The Network.
• Stephen Rea as Conran Letts, part of the Corvadt biological sciences company and apparent head of The Network.
• James Fox as Assistant, the Assistant to Letts, apparent head of Corvadt Industries, and member of The Network.
• Ruth Gemmell as Jen, Michael's wife.
• Emilia Jones as Alice Ward, a school girl Grant meets and who later hides the Utopia manuscript in her bedroom. Arby kills her mother after attempting to retrieve the manuscript.
• Geraldine James as Milner, an MI5 agent to whom the group turn for help.
• Michael Smiley as Detective Reynolds, a police officer who disregards Bejan's death as suicide. When challenged by Wilson, he is forced to file a criminal report on him. He is later killed by Arby.
• Mark Stobbart as Bejan Chervo, the original owner of the Utopia II manuscript who asks Ian, Becky, Grant and Wilson to meet up with him. Before he can do so, he is pushed from the balcony of his flat and killed by Arby and Lee, an event Grant witnesses.
• Simon McBurney as Donaldson, a scientist who Michael Dugdale asks for help.

Production

In April 2012, Channel 4 announced that it had commissioned a 6-episode drama series titled Utopia.^[14] The series was written by Dennis Kelly and produced by Kudos Film and Television. Marc Munden was chosen as the director, Rebekah Wray-Rogers the producer, and Dennis Kelly, Jane Featherstone and Karen Wilson the executive producers.^[15]

Conception and development

Kudos Film & TV approached the writer Dennis Kelly with an idea about a conspiracy hidden inside a graphic novel.^[16] Kelly liked some of the idea, but changed some of the others. The story involved a shadowy organisation called The Network, and Kelly initially came out with an idea that The Network might be responsible for the rise in conspiracy theories because they thought it would be the best way to hide an actual conspiracy.^[17] Kelly said he doesn't believe in conspiracy theories, however he is fascinated by them.^[18] The series took about two years to come to fruition.^[17]

Filming locations

Utopia is set in London, but was filmed mostly in Merseyside and West Lancashire between April and October 2012, while the panning shot of the Mercury Hotel in episode 1 was filmed in Westhoughton. Producer Bekki Wray-Rogers claimed the reason for this was that no other area in the UK could have provided them with as much of a variety of locations.^[1] Some scenes were filmed at Scarisbrick Hall in Ormskirk.^[19] Scenes for the school shooting in episode 3 were filmed at Alsop High School in Walton whilst the school was closed for summer in July 2012. The empty red sandstone stately home the group make use of from episode 4 is filmed at Woolton Hall. The café scene in episode 5 is filmed at TC's Cafe & Take-Away on Southport New Road near the village of Mere Brow.^[20] Many scenes were filmed in Crosby and Skelmersdale. The final scene of the series, with Jessica and Milner, was shot atop the Cunard Building, one of Liverpool's three graces.

Part of the second series was filmed in York.^[21]

Reception

The first series was generally well-received by the critics, with some high praise for its striking visuals, but also some expressions of concern about its violence. Aidan Smith of The Scotsman noted both its "astonishing visuals" as well as its "astonishing violence",^[22] while Tom Sutcliffe of The Independent thought it a dystopian fantasy "delivered with great visual style" but was not convinced that its violence is necessary.^[23] Mark Monahan of The Daily Telegraph described it as "a dark, tantalisingly mysterious overture",^[24] while Sam Wollaston of The Guardian called it "a work of brilliant imagination", "a 21st-century nightmare" that "looks beautiful", but also wondered about the gratuitousness of its violence.^[25]

Controversy

UK media regulator Ofcom received 44 complaints about the television series including complaints about violence, offensive language and child actors being involved in scenes of adult content. Thirty seven of the complaints related to a scene at the beginning of the third episode where a shooting takes place in a primary school.^[26] Channel 4 also received 28 complaints about the scene. It was aired a month after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Connecticut, USA. A spokesman for Channel 4 responded, "Channel 4 thought very carefully about continuing with the planned broadcast of Utopia. The drama is in no way based on real events, and the scenes featuring violence are editorially justified within the context of the storyline. All material has been carefully considered in accordance with the Ofcom Broadcasting Code and we were satisfied that, appropriately scheduled in a late night slot at 10pm and preceded by clear on-air warnings about the graphic violence and very strong language, it could be broadcast as planned."^[27]

Episodes

Release

The series was released as a DVD and Blu-ray on 11 March 2013.^[34] It includes behind-the-scenes documentaries, deleted scenes, and audio commentary.^[35]

The series soundtrack from composer Cristobal Tapia De Veer was released as a CD on 7 October 2013.^[36]

References

External links

• Official website
• Utopia at the Internet Movie Database