Legacy (2013 Film)
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''Legacy'' is a British thriller
television film A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...
that broadcast 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 28 November 2013. It is an adaptation of
Alan Judd Alan Judd (born 1946) is a pseudonym used by Alan Edwin Petty. Born in 1946, he is a former soldier and diplomat who now works as a security analyst and writer in the United Kingdom. He writes both books and articles, regularly contributing to a ...
's 2001 spy novel of the same name.


Plot

Charles Thoroughgood (
Charlie Cox Charlie Thomas Cox (born 15 December 1982) is an English actor. He is known for portraying Matt Murdock / Daredevil in several projects of the Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise, including lead roles in the television series '' Daredevil'' (20 ...
), a young spy, discovers the truth about his father's past. After leaving the army, he starts training at the
Secret Intelligence Service The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...
when Viktor Koslov ( Andrew Scott), a Soviet diplomat, gets him on a case. Charles' bosses want to exploit Viktor. When Charles makes contact with him, Viktor tells him information that he does not want to believe. Charles is also in a relationship with the wife of another agent.


Cast

*
Charlie Cox Charlie Thomas Cox (born 15 December 1982) is an English actor. He is known for portraying Matt Murdock / Daredevil in several projects of the Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise, including lead roles in the television series '' Daredevil'' (20 ...
as Charles Thoroughood, a young spy *
Romola Garai Romola Sadie Garai (; born 6 August 1982) is a British actress and film director. She appeared in ''Amazing Grace'', ''Atonement'', and ''Glorious 39'', and in the BBC series '' Emma'', '' The Hour'' and ''The Crimson Petal and the White''. In ...
as Anna March *
Simon Russell Beale Sir Simon Russell Beale (born 12 January 1961) is an English actor. He is known for his appearances in film, television and theatre, and work on radio, on audiobooks and as a narrator. For his services to drama, he was knighted by Queen Elizabe ...
as Hookey *
Geraldine James Geraldine James, OBE (born 6 July 1950) is an English film and television actress. Biography Early life and family James was born in Maidenhead, Berkshire, to a cardiologist father and an alcoholic mother, who had been a nurse. She failed her ...
as Martha *
Christian McKay Christian Stuart McKay (born 30 December 1973) is an English stage and screen actor. He is perhaps best known for his portrayal of Orson Welles in the 2008 film ''Me and Orson Welles'', for which he was nominated for over two dozen awards includi ...
as Hugo March * Olivia Grant as Eva Pym *
Richard McCabe Richard McCabe (born William McCabe; 18 August 1960) is a Scottish actor who has specialised in classical theatre. He is an Associate Artist of the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC). Career McCabe is an Associate Artist of the Royal Shakespeare ...
as Gerry * Andrew Scott as Viktor Koslov, a Soviet diplomat *
Tessa Peake-Jones Tessa Peake-Jones (born 9 May 1957) is an English actress having appeared in ''The Danedyke Mystery'' (1979), ''Pride and Prejudice'' (1980), ''When We Are Married'' (1987), ''Up the Garden Path'' (1990–1993), ''So Haunt Me'' (1992–1994), ' ...
as Joyce Thoroughgood * Robert Ashby as Annikov * Charlotte Randle as Emily * Barrie Martin as Protester *
Alec Utgoff Alec Utgoff ( rus, Олег Володимирович Утгоф; born 1 March 1986) is a Ukrainian-born British actor. He pursued acting and graduated from the prestigious Drama Centre London. He is known for playing the role of Aleksandr Bor ...
as Rhykov * Erick Hayden as
CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...
agent


Production

The
screenplay ''ScreenPlay'' is a television drama anthology series broadcast on BBC2 between 9 July 1986 and 27 October 1993. Background After single-play anthology series went off the air, the BBC introduced several showcases for made-for-television, fe ...
was written by
Paula Milne Paula Milne is a British screenwriter. Her works include '' The Politician's Wife'', ''The Virgin Queen'', ''Chandler & Co'', '' Die Kinder'', ''Second Sight'', ''Driving Ambition'', ''Small Island'' and ''Endgame''. Her first single drama ...
and directed by
Pete Travis Pete Travis is a British television and film director. His work includes '' Cold Feet'' (1999), '' The Jury'' (2002) and ''Omagh'' (2004) for television and '' Vantage Point'' (2008), ''Endgame'' (2009), ''Dredd'' (2012) and ''City of Tiny Ligh ...
. Paula Milne said:
Legacy falls well within the genre of the British spy thriller but has an extraordinary personal twist. For what is espionage if not betrayal at the most fundamental level of human interactions? When that occurs within a family... It's dynamite!
The television film was commissioned by
Ben Stephenson Benjamin Stephenson is a television executive, formerly controller of drama at the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and currently Head of Television at Bad Robot Productions in the United States. Personal life Stephenson attended The H ...
, controller of drama commissioning for the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
, and
Janice Hadlow Janice Vivienne Hadlow (born November 1957) in Lewisham is a former BBC television executive. She was the controller of the BBC television channel BBC Two, taking over this position in November 2008 having previously been controller of BBC Four. At ...
, controller of
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 ...
. The executive producers are Crawford Collins, Paula Milne and Alan Judd for Slim Film + Television and Lucy Richer for the BBC. Rob Bullock is the producer and Rebecca Ferguson the script executive. The television film was commissioned as part of BBC Two's
Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
season. The production filmed in
Deal A deal, or deals may refer to: Places United States * Deal, New Jersey, a borough * Deal, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * Deal Lake, New Jersey Elsewhere * Deal Island (Tasmania), Australia * Deal, Kent, a town in England * Deal, ...
in
Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
which doubled as a Suffolk village towards the end of the film where Charles follows Viktor.
Deal Pier Deal Pier is the last remaining fully intact leisure pier in Kent. It is the third pier to exist in Deal and was opened in November 1957 by the Duke of Edinburgh. Its structure was extensively refurbished and repaired in 1997, with work includ ...
was also used for the scenes where Charles and Anna walk down the pier watching Viktor with his wife, who are being closely followed by the Russian KGB as well as the night scene where Charles and Viktor meet under the pier and discuss the KGB’s plans to attack the Power Station.


Reception


Ratings

Overnight figures showed that ''Legacy'' was watched by 7.3% of the viewing audience, with 1.59 million viewers. Official figures raised the number of viewers to 1.85 million.


Critical reception

''
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 publis ...
'' journalist Gerard Gilbert said: "I guess I'm just not sure that I entirely saw the point of ''Legacy'' beyond the fact that the BBC had decided to have a season of programmes about the Cold War." Keith Watson of ''
Metro Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to: Geography * Metro (city), a city in Indonesia * A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center Public transport * Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urba ...
'' said that "despite great performances, ''Legacy'' got caught up in cloak-and-dagger cliché". ''
The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...
'' Gerard O'Donovan gave it three out of five stars and said he wished "the characters had been better drawn."
Grace Dent Grace Dent (born 3 October 1973) is an English columnist, broadcaster and author. She is a restaurant critic for ''The Guardian'' and from 2011 to 2017 wrote a restaurant column for the ''Evening Standard''. She is a regular critic on the BBC' ...
of ''The Independent'' found the film boring and said "everyone in this Cold War thriller was brilliant, but I still fell asleep".


References


External links

* * {{Pete Travis, state=collapsed English-language television shows British television films 2013 television films 2013 films Films shot in England Films based on British novels Films directed by Pete Travis 2010s English-language films