TV PREVIEW

Inside Man

UK 2022, 60 mins
Director: Paul McGuigan


+ Q&A with creator, writer and executive producer Steven Moffat, director Paul McGuigan and stars David Tennant, Dolly Wells, Lydia West and Stanley Tucci. Hosted by Boyd Hilton

Everyone’s a murderer… you just need a good reason and a bad day.

Inside Man is a major new thriller from BAFTA and Emmy award-winning writer Steven Moffat. This captivating four-part mini-series follows a prisoner on death row in the United States (Stanley Tucci), a Vicar in a sleepy English town (David Tennant) and a maths teacher trapped inside a cellar (Dolly Wells). Watch as their lives cross paths in the most unexpected of ways…

Inside Man is coming to BBC One and BBC iPlayer on 26 September at 9pm.

Led by David Tennant (Des, Doctor Who), this star-studded cast also features Dolly Wells (The Pursuit of Love, Dracula), Lyndsey Marshal (Dracula, Hanna), and Lydia West (It’s a Sin) with Stanley Tucci (Feud, The Hunger Games) in the titular role as the Inside Man.

Writer and creator Steven Moffat was lead writer and executive producer of Dr Who for six incredibly successful series. Alongside Mark Gatiss he also co-created, wrote and exec-produced the hugely popular series Sherlock, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman. Their collaboration continued with the creation of Dracula, starring Claes Bang and Dolly Wells for BBC and Netflix, with Sue Vertue as Executive Producer.

Steven’s screenwriting career began with the much-loved teen drama series Press Gang, writing all 43 episodes across five series. From there he went on to create and write three sitcoms Coupling, Chalk, and Joking Apart. Other credits include his series Jekyll, and the feature film Tintin which was directed by Steven Spielberg.

Among his many accolades, Steven has been awarded multiple BAFTAs including five for his writing on Press Gang, Sherlock (Series 2 Episode 1: A Scandal in Belgravia), and Doctor Who (Series 3, Episode 10: Blink), and the BAFTA Television Special Award in 2012 in recognition of his outstanding creative writing contribution to television.

He was also awarded two Emmys for his work on Sherlock: ‘Outstanding Writing for a Mini-Series’ in 2012 (Sherlock Series 3 Episode 3: His Last Vow) and ‘Outstanding Television Movie’ in 2016 (The Abominable Bride). He has won five Royal Television Society awards – including Special Achievement and Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Writer’s Guild and British Screenwriter’s Guild. In 2015, he received an Order of the British Empire for Services to Television.

His most recent work was the television adaptation of The Time Traveler’s Wife for HBO/Warner Bros, co-produced by Hartswood Films. Earlier this year, Steven’s much-anticipated theatre debut, The Unfriend, sold out the Minerva Theatre in Chichester to rave reviews.

Paul McGuigan is a BAFTA and Emmy nominated director for film and television. Paul’s first feature, an adaptation of Irvine Welsh’s The Acid House, won him the RTS Award for Best Newcomer along with the RTS award for Best Single Drama and a host of other prizes. Paul followed The Acid House with a string of acclaimed features including Gangster No 1, Lucky Number Slevin and Push. Paul’s most recent feature film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool, starring Annette Bening and Jamie Bell, was released in 2017 to great reviews.

Paul’s television work includes the critically acclaimed dramas Sherlock and Dracula for the BBC and Hartswood. In the US, Paul has directed the pilots of numerous successful series including Scandal, Marvel’s Luke Cage and Designated Survivor.

David Tennant has worked extensively in theatre, television and film, winning numerous awards for his work including an International Emmy for Best Performance, a Critics Circle Award for Best Shakespearean Performance and the Special Recognition Award at the NTAs in 2015.

Tennant was last in the West End as Don Juan in Soho in 2017 directed by Patrick Marber.

Other stage work includes Richard II and Hamlet for the RSC, Much Ado about Nothing in the West End and Lobby Hero at the Donmar Warehouse. His film credits include Mary Queen of Scots, You Me & Him, Mad to be Normal, Fright Night, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Bright Young Things.

On television he is best known for playing the tenth incarnation of the Doctor in the BBC’s classic series Doctor Who and the iconic detective DI Alec Hardy in Broadchurch. Recent TV work includes Marvel series Jessica Jones, Des for ITV, Around the World in 80 Days and Staged for BBC, and Good Omens for Amazon.

He will next be seen on screen in The Inside Man for BBC, Litvenenko for ITV and Good Omens 2, and is currently rehearsing for Good, which will run at the Harold Pinter theatre through until Christmas.

Before appearing in Inside Man, Dolly Wells wrapped on Stephen Merchant’s The Outlaws for BBC/Amazon Studios playing the role of Margaret and Emily Mortimer’s The Pursuit of Love playing the role of Aunt Sadie. She also stars as Sister Agatha in the Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat series Dracula, co-leading with Claes Bang for BBC1 and Netflix. Other recent credits include the AMC series Soulmates and the HBO series Room 104 created by Mark Duplass as Catherine. Dolly also starred in the Oscar nominated feature film Can You Ever Forgive Me? with Melissa McCarthy and Richard E. Grant, Blunt Talk (HBO), and two series of her show Doll & Em, which she co-starred in and co-wrote with Emily Mortimer (also for HBO).

Lydia West was named BAFTA Breakthrough Brit last year and her star is firmly on the rise.

After her leading role in the new BBC/Netflix drama Inside Man, Lydia has just wrapped filming espionage thriller Gray. She stars opposite Patricia Clarkson in the 8-part series which will be released next year.

Next year, Lydia will appear in feature film It’s All Coming Back to Me, opposite a stellar cast including Russell Tovey, Celia Imrie, Priyanka Chopra and Celine Dion. The film will release in early 2023.

This February, Lydia was seen in Apple TV+’s Suspicion. The crime thriller written by Rob Williams also stars Uma Thurman and Kunal Nayyar. In spring we saw Lydia opposite legendary comic actor Mike Myers in Netflix’s The Pentaverate. Lydia has worked with acclaimed British writer Russell T. Davies. Firstly, in her break-out role as Bethany in Years and Years followed by the hugely successful It’s a Sin. Other credits include BBC One’s Dracula where Lydia played flirtatious Lucy Westenra alongside Claes Bang as the infamous Dracula. The show was written by Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat and aired in early 2020.

Stanley Tucci is an Academy Award nominated actor known for his versatility as an actor, writer, director and producer. He has appeared in over 100 films, countless television shows and more than a dozen plays on and off Broadway. Tucci reached his widest audience yet in the role of Caesar Flickerman in The Hunger Games franchise.

Recently Tucci can be seen in season 2 of the critically acclaimed, Emmy Award-winning CNN travel and food series Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy. Upcoming for Tucci includes Citadel, an action-packed spy TV mini-series and The Inside Man. Also coming next for Tucci includes the Whitney Houston biopic I Wanna Dance with Somebody, Conclave and The Electric State.

Acclaimed for his work in all mediums, Tucci was nominated for an Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, BAFTA Award, SAG Award and received a Broadcast Film Critics nomination for his performance in Peter Jackson’s The Lovely Bones. He also won an Emmy and Golden Globe for his starring role as the fast-talking tabloid tattler Walter Winchell in the Paul Mazurksy-directed TV movie Winchell. He received another Golden Globe for his brilliant portrayal of Lt. Colonel Adolf Eichmann in HBO’s Conspiracy.

With so many accolades for his performances on the screen, it is no surprise that his work as writer, producer and director are also widely celebrated. Big Night, Stanley Tucci’s first pursuit as co-director, co-screenwriter and actor on the same film, earned him numerous honors. Following this success, he directed and co-starred as famed New Yorker staff writer Joseph Mitchell in Joe Gould’s Secret; executive produced Behind the Sun; co-wrote, directed, and starred in Blind Date; and produced the Ivan Kavanagh horror film, The Canal.

Tucci made his directorial debut on Broadway with a revival of Ken Ludwig’s Lend Me a Tenor starring Tony Shalhoub. The production received a Tony Award nomination for Best Revival of a Play. Stanley’s theater work includes Frankie & Johnny in the Claire de Lune, Execution of Hope, The Iceman Cometh, Brighton Beach Memoirs and The Misanthrope. He has also performed in a number of off-Broadway plays at Yale Repertory Theater and SUNY Purchase, where he first studied acting.

The Tucci Cookbook, released in 2012, appeared on the New York Times Best Sellers List. His second cookbook, The Tucci Table: Cooking with Family and Friends, was released in 2014 and he released his third cookbook in 2021, Taste: My Life through Food, an instant New York Times Bestseller.

Although Stanley currently resides in London, he continues to serve on the Board of Directors of The Food Bank for New York City.

Boyd Hilton is a journalist, author, critic and broadcaster. As well as his two day jobs of Entertainment Director of Heat magazine, where he has worked since its launch in 1999, and Contributing Editor of Empire magazine, Boyd also wrote the book Inside Little Britain with Matt Lucas and David Walliams. He has been a regular contributor to BBC Radio 5 Live and Radio 4, reviewing television, books and films for over two decades. He is also Features Editor and contributor to sport/style/culture magazine Circle Zero Eight, and has written for GQ, Man about Town, The Guardian and Observer. Boyd also co-hosts the weekly Pilot TV podcast, covering cinematic television, and the Footballistically Arsenal podcast, covering… Arsenal. He also frequently hosts live on-stage TV and film events for BAFTA, the RTS and the BFI, among many others.

INSIDE MAN
Written by: Steven Moffat
Director: Paul McGuigan
Produced by: Hartswood Films
For: BBC One
Co-produced by: Netflix
Executive Producer: Sue Vertue
Executive Producer for BBC: Ben Irving
Producer: Alex Mercer
Head of Production: Debbie Vertue
Managing Director: Dan Cheesbrough
Associate Producer: Rachel Stone
Line Producer: Chan Chau
Production Manager: Sophie Hebron
Location Manager: Danny Potts
Production Accountant: Wayne Noir
Casting by: Kate Rhodes James CDG
Script Supervisor: Non Eleri-Hughes
1st Assistant Director: Mark Taylor
Post-production Supervisor: Sam Lucas
Director of Photography: Tony Slater Ling BSC
Camera & Steadicam Operator: Junior Agyeman
Grip: Stephen Peat
Gaffer: Paul Murphy
Editor: Berny McGurk
Production Designer: Arwel Wyn Jones
Supervising Art Director: Harry Trow
S/by Art Director: Kris Turnbull
Set Decorator: Emma Field-Rayner
Prop Master: Adam McReight
Graphic Artist: Richard Wells
Special Effects: Jason Troughton
Head of Visual Effects: Matt Wood
Visual Effects: Space VFX
Title Design: Peter Anderson Studio
Costume Designer: Jane Spicer
Costume Supervisor: Claire Jennings
Hair & Make-up Designer: Marcus Whitney
Hair & Make-up Supervisor: Alison Jayne Webb
Music by: David Arnold
‘Gods Gonna Cut You Down’ sung by: John Grant
Production Sound Recordist: Keith Nixon
Supervising Sound Mixer: Doug Sinclair
Sound Effects: Adam Armitage
Dialogue Editor: Harry Platford
Re-recording Sound Mixer: Nigel Squibbs

Cast (in episode one)
David Tennant (Harry)
Stanley Tucci (Grieff)
Dolly Wells (Janice)
Lydia West (Beth)
Lyndsey Marshal (Mary)
Louis Oliver (Ben)
Atkins Estimond (Dillon)
Dylan Baker (Casey)
Mark Quartley (Edgar)
Tilly Vosburgh (Hilda)
Simon Delaney (Claude)
Harry Cadby (Ricky)
Eke Chukwu (Keith)
July Namir (Nazreen)
Victoria Willing (Alice)
Tim Berrington (William)
Malek Alkoni (Faisel)
Susan Sze, Amie Buhari, Reynah Rita, Suzanne Ahmet, Aaliya James, Malcolm James (train passengers)

UK 2022
Episode 1 (60 mins)

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Programme notes and credits compiled by the BFI Documentation Unit
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