''Save Me'' is a British television drama series, written, created by, and starring

Lennie James Lennie Michael James (born 11 October 1965) is a British actor, screenwriter, and playwright. His work includes playing Morgan Jones in the television series, '' The Walking Dead'' and in its spin-off, '' Fear the Walking Dead'', and starring ...

. It was first broadcast on

Sky Atlantic Sky Atlantic is a British pay television channel owned by Sky Group Limited broadcast in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The channel is primarily dedicated to imported programmes from the United States, and holds the domestic rights to HBO ...

on 28 February 2018, with all six episodes being released via

Sky Box Sets Sky Box Sets is a television channel owned and operated by New Zealand's Sky. It was launched on 1 August 2017 on Sky Channel 9 in 1080i high-definition. The channel screens an entire season of a television series at 7:30pm every night. The ch ...

and

Now TV Now most commonly refers to the present time. Now, NOW, or The Now may also refer to: Organizations * Natal Organisation of Women, a South African women's organization * National Organization for Women, an American feminist organization * No ...

on the same day. Series two, entitled ''Save Me Too'', was released in the same fashion on 1 April 2020.

Sky Vision Sky Vision was a production and distribution company founded by Sky in 2002 as Parthenon Media Group and was acquired and rebranded by Sky as Sky Vision. The business had investments in nine production businesses in the UK and US: Love Productio ...

distributed the first series worldwide, but the distribution rights for the second series were picked up by Sky's sister company

NBCUniversal NBCUniversal Media, LLC is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate corporation owned by Comcast and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, United States. NBCUniversal is primari ...

. In the U.S., the series was picked up by

Starz Starz (stylized as STARZ since 2016; pronounced "stars") is an American premium cable and satellite television network owned by Lions Gate Entertainment, and is the flagship property of parent subsidiary Starz Inc. Programming on Starz consist ...

, where the series has been available on Starz on Demand since 6 September 2018. It was released on Starz Cinema on 11 May 2019. The series stars Lennie James as Nelson "Nelly" Rowe, a down-and-out whose life is turned upside down when Jody, the estranged daughter he fathered thirteen years ago, mysteriously disappears. He begins a determined quest to get to the bottom of things and find his daughter, lying, begging favours and stretching his friendships to the limit in the process.

Suranne Jones Sarah Anne Akers (née Jones; born 27 August 1978), known professionally as Suranne Jones, is an English actress and producer. She rose to prominence as Karen McDonald in ''Coronation Street'' between 2000 to 2004. Upon leaving, she furthered h ...

stars as Claire McGory, Jody's mother. Aside from James and Jones,

Stephen Graham Stephen Joseph Graham (born 3 August 1973) is a British actor. He is best known for playing Andrew "Combo" Gascoigne in the film ''This Is England'' (2006) and its television sequels ''This Is England '86'' (2010), '' This Is England '88'' ( ...

and

Jason Flemyng Jason Iain Flemyng''Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & Wales, 1916–2005.''; at ancestry.com (born 25 September 1966) is an English actor. He is known for roles in British films such as ''Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels'' (1998) ...

as friends Melon and Tam are also credited as principal members of the cast. The series was green-lit in January 2017, under the original working title of ''Gone''. James reunited with

World Productions World Productions is a British television production company, founded on 20 March 1990 by acclaimed producer Tony Garnett, and owned by ITV plc following a takeover in 2017. History The company's first major series was the police drama '' Betwe ...

for the series, with whom he previously worked on the first series of ''

Line of Duty ''Line of Duty'' is a British police procedural television series created by Jed Mercurio and produced by World Productions. On 26 June 2012, BBC Two began to broadcast the first series; it was its best-performing drama series in ten years wit ...

''. Following strong critical reception for the first series, a second series was released in 2020, with the altered title ''Save Me Too''. A DVD of the first series was released via

Acorn Media RLJE International Ltd, d/b/a Acorn DVD, a British company that publishes and distributes DVDs, as well as selling home-video products and streaming videos with a particular focus on British television. History Launched in 1997, Acorn Media U. ...

on 7 May 2018. It won the 2021 BAFTA TV Award for Best Drama Series.

Cast

Main cast

as Nelson "Nelly" Rowe, a down-and-out, sofa-surfing womaniser *

as Claire McGory, Nelly's former lover and mother of Jody *

as Fabio "Melon" Melonzola, Nelly's best friend, a computer expert and convicted sex offender *

as Tam, a friend of Nelly's, a cross-dresser and strip club bartender *

Adrian Edmondson Adrian Charles Edmondson (born 24 January 1957) is an English actor, comedian, musician, writer and television presenter. He was part of the alternative comedy boom in the early 1980s and had roles in the television series ''The Young Ones (TV s ...

as Gideon Charles, a major figure in the paedophile ring *

Lesley Manville Lesley Ann Manville (born 12 March 1956) is an English actress known for her frequent collaborations with Mike Leigh, appearing in the films ''Grown-Ups'' (1980), '' High Hopes'' (1988), '' Secrets & Lies'' (1996), ''Topsy-Turvy'' (1999), '' A ...

as Jennifer Charles, the wife of Gideon (season 2)

Recurring cast

Susan Lynch Susan Lynch (born 5 June 1971) is a Northern Irish actress. three-times an IFTA Award winner, she also won the British Independent Film Award for Best Supporting Actress for the 2003 film '' 16 Years of Alcohol''. Her other film appearances in ...

as Stace, a childhood friend of Nelly's and landlady of The Palm Tree, his local pub *

Kerry Godliman Kerry Anna Godliman (born November 1973) is an English actor and comedian best known for her roles in ''Derek'', '' Bad Move'' and '' After Life''. Early life Godliman was born in Perivale, West London, and trained at Rose Bruford College in ...

as Martine "Teens" Betts, Nelly's girlfriend at the start of the series, whom he remains friends with afterwards *

Olivia Gray Olive Gray (born Olivia Grant; 3 December 1994) is an English actor, known for portraying Mia Stone in the children's television series ''Half-Moon Investigations''. Early and personal life Gray is the eldest child of ''Fame Academy'' judges ...

as Grace, trafficked teen whom Nelly saves and who resembles his missing daughter *

Nadine Marshall Nadine Panchita Marshall (born 30 September 1972) is an English television, stage, and radio actress. Education and career She studied at Rose Bruford College of Speech and Drama and is best known for her performance as Sally in the British tel ...

as Detective Sergeant Shola O'Halloran, DCI Thorpe's deputy * Barry Ward as Barry McGory, Claire's husband and Jody's adoptive father, an apparently wealthy club owner * Alan McKenna as Detective Chief Inspector Ian Thorpe, senior investigating officer into Jody's disappearance * Indeyarna Donaldson-Holness as Jody McGory, Nelly and Claire's thirteen-year-old daughter and Barry's adopted daughter *

Phil Dunster Philip James Dunster (born 31 March 1992) is an English actor. He is known for in the Sky One drama '' Strike Back'' (2017–2018), the Channel 4 science fiction series ''Humans'' (2018), the ITV comedy-drama ''The Trouble with Maggie Cole'' ( ...

as BJ McGory, Barry's son and Claire's stepson * Thomas Coombes as Goz, a drug dealer and friend of Nelly's * Alice Feetham as Bernie Melonzola, Melon's wife, whom he was convicted of having sex with when she was fifteen *

Camilla Beeput Camilla Marie Beeput (born 9 September 1981) is an English stage, television and film actress and singer. Winner of the Next Generation, Voice of a Women Award (2015), Beeput was first discovered on ''Fame Academy'' in 2002 and has gone on to r ...

as Zita, Nelly's occasional girlfriend, a stripper * Nicholas Croucher as Dylan, Jody's best friend and next-door neighbour *

Struan Rodger Struan Rodger (born 18 September 1946) is a British actor who has appeared widely in a range of supporting roles. He appeared briefly in ''Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?'' in 1978 but his first major film role was as Eric Liddell's ...

as Richard, owner of an illicit paedophile bar and brothel * Ryan McKen as DC Leo Rainsford, a detective working on Jody's case * Alexander Arnold as Luke, a student and regular at The Palm Tree * Ragevan Vasan as Gavin, a student and regular at The Palm Tree, Luke's friend and flatmate * Remmie Milner as Daisy, Goz's girlfriend and mother of his child * Jimmy Walker as Marky Betts, Teens' son, a strip club doorman * Mia Austen as PC Helen Long, the McGorys' family liaison officer

Other cast

* Rob Horrocks as Plain Clothes Police Officer

Episodes

Series 1 (2018)

Airdates listed as per the

broadcast. All episodes of this series were available to download from

and

from 28 February 2018.

Series 2 (2020)

All episodes of this series were available to download from Sky Box Sets and Now TV from 1 April 2020.

References

External links

* * * * {{Sky Atlantic 2018 British television series debuts 2020 British television series endings 2010s British drama television series 2020s British drama television series Kidnapping in television Cross-dressing in television English-language television shows Infidelity in television Prostitution in British television Sky Atlantic original programming Television series about dysfunctional families Television series about missing people Television shows set in London Works about sex trafficking Television series by ITV Studios Television series by World Productions