''Blackout'' is a 2012 three-part

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

television drama series In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

produced by

Red Production Company Red Production Company is a British independent television production company owned by StudioCanal. Background Red Production Company was formed in 1998 by Nicola Shindler, a television producer who had worked on ''Our Friends in the North'' ...

. A corrupt council official wakes from an alcoholic blackout to realise that he may have been responsible for a murder. He soon begins a dramatic quest for redemption. The series is directed by Tom Green and written by Bill Gallagher.

Plot

After an alcoholic binge corrupt council official Daniel Demoys ( Christopher Eccleston) awakes from a blackout and circumstances lead him to believe he may be responsible for a murder. While trying to establish the events of the blackout he attempts to redeem himself, to such a degree that he finds himself a mayoral candidate with the public's backing. However, Daniel also begins a relationship with Detective Dalien Bevan's ex-wife, while the Detective is investigating the murder.

Cast

* Christopher Eccleston as Daniel Demoys *

Dervla Kirwan Dervla Kirwan (born 24 October 1971) is an Irish television, stage, and film actress who specializes in drama roles. She gained attention for her roles in ''Ballykissangel'', '' Goodnight Sweetheart'', and the Doctor Who Christmas special epis ...

as Alex Demoys *

Ewen Bremner Ewen Bremner (born 23 January 1972) is a Scottish character actor. His roles have included Julien in ''Julien Donkey-Boy'' and Daniel "Spud" Murphy in '' Trainspotting'' and its 2017 sequel '' T2 Trainspotting''. Early life Bremner was born i ...

as Jerry Durrans *

Karl Collins Karl Collins is an English actor. He is known for his television roles as Danny Glaze in ''The Bill'', Louis Loveday in ''Hollyoaks'', and Shaun Temple in '' Doctor Who''. Early life and career Collins was born in Nottingham, and grew up on the ...

as Bo * Andrew Scott as Dalien Bevan *

MyAnna Buring MyAnna Buring (; born 22 September 1979 as Anna Margaretha My Rantapää) is a Swedish actress, known for her roles in ''The Descent'', ''Kill List'', '' The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1'' and '' Part 2'', ''Ripper Street'', ''The Witc ...

as Sylvie Mills *

Branka Katić Branka Katić ( sr-cyr, Бранка Катић; born 20 January 1970) is a Serbian actress known for appearing in the films ''Black Cat, White Cat'' and '' Public Enemies'', and the TV series ''Big Love''. Career Katić debuted in the film '' ...

as Donna Harris *

David Hayman David Hayman (born 9 February 1948) is a Scottish film, television and stage actor and director, known for his role as DCS Mike Walker in ITV drama ''Trial & Retribution'', as Jonas Franks in BBC period drama '' The Paradise'' and as Brace i ...

as Henry Pulis *

Rebecca Callard Rebecca Jayne Callard (born 3 June 1975) is an English actress and writer. Early life Callard was born Rebecca Jayne Atkinson, the only surviving child from her mother Beverley Callard's first marriage to Paul Atkinson. Her parents divorced i ...

as Ruth Pulis *

Wunmi Mosaku Oluwunmi Mosaku (born 1986) is a Nigerian-born British actress. She is known for her roles as Joy in the BBC Two miniseries ''Moses Jones'' (2009) and Holly Lawson in the ITV series ''Vera'' (2011–2012). She won the BAFTA TV Award for Best S ...

as Millie Coswell *

Lyndsey Marshal Lyndsey Marshal (born 16 June 1978) is an English actress best known for her performance in '' The Hours'', and as the recurring character Cleopatra on HBO's ''Rome'', and as Lady Sarah Hill in BBC period drama ''Garrow's Law''. Biography Mars ...

as Lucy Demoys *

Danny Sapani Danny Sapani (born 15 November 1970) is a British actor who works in British, American, and Indian films. He is best known for appearing in ''Misfits'', '' Doctor Who'', ''Penny Dreadful'', ''The Crown'', '' Star Wars: The Last Jedi'' and '' Bl ...

as D.I. Griffin *

Stuart McQuarrie Stuart McQuarrie (born 19 March 1963) is a Scottish actor who has starred in several acclaimed films, including '' Trainspotting'' and ''28 Days Later''. Besides numerous film and TV appearances McQuarrie has performed extensively in theatre th ...

as Eddie Dayton * Danny Kelly as Billy Sutton * Oliver Woollford as Luke Demoys * Lorenzo Rodriguez as Charlie Demoys *

Olivia Cooke Olivia Kate Cooke (born 27 December 1993) is an English actress. In television, she has starred as Emma Decody in the thriller '' Bates Motel'' (2013–2017), Becky Sharp in the period drama ''Vanity Fair'' (2018), and Alicent Hightower in th ...

as Meg Demoys * Osy Ikhile as Nelson Venner

Production

''Blackout'' was commissioned for BBC One by Ben Stephenson, (Drama Commissioning), and Danny Cohen, (Controller, BBC One). The producer is Matthew Bird and director is Tom Green. Executive Producers are Christopher Aird for BBC,

Nicola Shindler Nicola Shindler (born 8 October 1968) is a British television producer and executive, and founder of the independent television drama production company Quay Street Productions, having founded and run Red Production Company from 1998 to 2020. S ...

for

, and written by Bill Gallagher. The programme was mostly filmed in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, and includes scenes which were filmed in Manchester Town Hall and Manchester Civil Justice Centre.

Reception

The mini-series launched on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

on 2 July 2012. It attracted 4.47m viewers (19.6% of UK terrestrial viewers) in the 9pm time slot. Writing for ''

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...

'', Ben Lawrence commended the performances, including those of Eccleston and Scott, but said: "I didn't love ''Blackout''; perhaps because it was so in love with itself. I was crying out for a bit of idiosyncratic dialogue, or some geographical reference to take me out of its noirish hinterland." Jasper Rees writing for ''The Arts Desk'' referenced Danish drama '' The Killing'' in his review, as did Arifa Akbar in ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

'', who said: "You can see how ''Blackouts creators have put flecks of '' Macbeth'', and even ''The Killing'' in the mix, with its blend of political drama, morality play and crime thriller, but none of it works."

References

External links

* *{{IMDb title, id=2326983, title=Blackout
BBC Media Centre Program Information

Blackout page on Red Production Company website
BBC television dramas 2010s British drama television series 2012 British television series debuts 2012 British television series endings 2010s British television miniseries English-language television shows Television shows set in Manchester