''Freefall'' is a BBC television film written and directed by

Dominic Savage Dominic Savage (born 23 November 1962) is a British BAFTA award-winning director, writer, and actor. Originally a child actor — making several television appearances and featuring in Stanley Kubrick's '' Barry Lyndon'' (1975) — ...

, that premiered on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

on 14 July 2009. Set in autumn 2007, ''Freefall'' is a dramatic satire of the mortgage crisis that led to the worldwide economic downturn.

Dominic Cooper Dominic Edward Cooper (born 2 June 1978) is an English actor known for his portrayal of comic book characters Jesse Custer on the AMC show ''Preacher'' (2016–2019) and young Howard Stark in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with appearances in ...

stars as Dave Matthews, a charismatic

corporate psychopath The presence of psychopathy in the workplace—although psychopaths typically represent a relatively small fraction of workplace staff—can do enormous damage when in senior management roles. Psychopaths are usually most common at higher levels o ...

who sells mortgages in

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

, Hertfordshire, to families denied credit whether they can afford repayment or not. In the series, Dave meets up with an old school mate, Jim Potter (played by

Joseph Mawle Joseph Daniel Turner Mawle (born 21 March 1974) is an English actor. Mawle is best known for his roles as Benjen Stark in ''Game of Thrones'', Detective Inspector Jedediah Shine in ''Ripper Street'', Firebrace in ''Birdsong'', Jesus Christ in '' ...

) who becomes another of Dave's mortgage victims. Despite a confrontation from Jim, Dave feels nothing and moves on to sell expensive solar panel packages to upper-middle-class house wives.

Aidan Gillen Aidan Murphy (born 24 April 1968), better known as Aidan Gillen (), is an Irish actor. He is the recipient of three Irish Film & Television Awards and has been nominated for a British Academy Television Award, a British Independent Film Award, a ...

stars as Gus, a high flying workaholic who sells corporate mortgages. This film highlights the delusional atmosphere of all walks of life prior to the economic collapse, from the naive working-class Jim to the high-flying

workaholic A workaholic is a person who works compulsively. A workaholic experiences an inability to limit the amount of time they spend on work despite negative consequences such as damage to their relationships or health. There is no generally accepted ...

Gus. Even Dave believes his own unfounded salesman

spiel Internationale Spieltage SPIEL, often called the Essen Game Fair after the city where it is held, is an annual four-day boardgame trade fair which is also open to the public held in October (Thursday to the following Sunday) at the Messe Essen ex ...

, crippling himself with a colossal £800,000 mortgage he quickly has to dispose of to "some rich mug". The film portrays the varying degrees of the collapse's effect on the different types of people involved, with Dave simply moving on to a different job compared to a complete breakdown and tragic end for Gus (shockingly the case for some bankers of the time). A critic noted that the series' take on the credit crunch by writer and director Savage had heartfelt approach, but was hurt with the lack of subtlety.

Cast

– Dave Matthews *

– Gus *

– Jim Potter *

Riz Ahmed Rizwan Ahmed (; ; born ) is a British actor and rapper. As an actor, he has won an Emmy Award and has received nominations for a Golden Globe and three British Independent Film Awards, and as a rapper he has won an Academy Award for the short ...

– Gary *

Alfie Allen Alfie Evan Allen (born 12 September 1986) is an English actor. He portrayed Theon Greyjoy on all eight seasons of the HBO fantasy series ''Game of Thrones'' (2011–2019), for which he received a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outs ...

– Ian *

Anna Maxwell Martin Anna Maxwell Martin (born Anna Charlotte Martin; 27 May 1977),Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & Wales, 1984–2006 listed birth name as ''Anna Charlotte Martin''; Registration year 1977; Registration District Beverley, Yorkshire som ...

– Mandy *

Rosamund Pike Rosamund Mary Ellen Pike (born 1979) is a British actress. She began her acting career by appearing in stage productions such as ''Romeo and Juliet'' and ''Gas Light''. After her screen debut in the television film ''A Rather English Marriage'' ...

– Anna

References

External links

* * BBC television dramas 2009 television films 2009 films British television films {{UK-tv-film-stub