''The Aliens'' is a British

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

television series created by

Fintan Ryan Fintan Ryan is an Irish comedy screenwriter, best known for writing the BBC Two sitcom ''Never Better'' and the E4 science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically ...

. It is set 40 years after

aliens Alien primarily refers to: * Alien (law), a person in a country who is not a national of that country ** Enemy alien, the above in times of war * Extraterrestrial life, life which does not originate from Earth ** Specifically, intelligent extrate ...

land in the

Irish Sea The Irish Sea or , gv, Y Keayn Yernagh, sco, Erse Sie, gd, Muir Èireann , Ulster-Scots: ''Airish Sea'', cy, Môr Iwerddon . is an extensive body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the Ce ...

and are reluctantly integrated into British society in the fictional city of Troy.

Border guard A border guard of a country is a national security agency that performs border security. Some of the national border guard agencies also perform coast guard (as in Federal Police (Germany), Germany, Guardia di Finanza, Italy or State Border Gua ...

Lewis Garvey, played by

Michael Socha Michael Robert Socha (born 13 December 1987) is an English actor, known for his roles in the films ''This Is England'' and ''Summer'', and the television series ''This Is England '86'', '' '88'', '' '90'', '' Being Human'', '' Once Upon a Time ...

, is caught up in the criminal underbelly of Troy as he learns he is himself half-alien. The six-episode series also stars

Michaela Coel Michaela Ewuraba Boakye-Collinson (born 1 October 1987), known professionally as Michaela Coel, is a British screenwriter and actress. She is best known for creating and starring in the E4 sitcom ''Chewing Gum'' (2015–2017), for which she won ...

Michael Smiley Michael Smiley (born 1963) is a Northern Irish comedian and actor. He is perhaps best known for his roles in the films ''Kill List'' (2011) and ''The Lobster'' (2015). Early life Smiley was born in 1963 in Belfast and grew up in Holywood with a ...

and

Jim Howick James "Jim" Howick (born 14 May 1979) is an English actor and writer, known for his appearances in television series such as ''Peep Show'', ''Horrible Histories'', ''Stag'', ''Ghosts'' and '' Here We Go''. Early life Howick was born in Chiches ...

, and is produced by

Clerkenwell Films Clerkenwell Films is a British film and television production company. Formed in 1998 by producer Murray Ferguson and actor John Hannah, the company has created television shows for both UK and international broadcasters and streaming platforms ...

for E4. The first episode was released on 8 March 2016. Ryan had previously written

BBC #REDIRECT 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 ex ...

shows ''

Never Better ''Never Better'' is a British television sitcom which started on BBC Two from 10 January to 14 February 2008. It stars Stephen Mangan as recovering alcoholic Keith Merchant and Kate Ashfield as his suffering wife Anita. The series is written by F ...

'' and ''In the Flesh''.

Overview

Coel told ''

Radio Times ''Radio Times'' (currently styled as ''RadioTimes'') is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in May 1923 by J ...

'' that ''The Aliens'' addresses "urgent contemporary concerns" not limited to racism; during the filming of the series at

Nu Boyana Film Studios Nu Boyana Film Studios ( bg, Ню Бояна Филм) are film studios situated in Sofia, Bulgaria. The film production complex was opened in 1962 and was state owned until 2005 when it was bought by one of the longest-running independent film c ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

, she reported she experienced racist attacks. Speaking to ''The Guardian'''s Gabriel Tate, Ryan acknowledged links with the show's narrative and the ongoing

European migrant crisis The 2015 European migrant crisis, also known internationally as the Syrian refugee crisis, was a period of significantly increased movement of refugees and migrants into Europe in 2015, when 1.3 million people came to the continent to reques ...

: "With immigrants, there's a colonial history that leaves you in debt to them. Here, we don't owe them he aliensanything, but they've landed on our planet and we've got to do something with them."

Viral marketing Viral marketing is a business strategy that uses existing social networks to promote a product mainly on various social media platforms. Its name refers to how consumers spread information about a product with other people, much in the same way tha ...

for ''The Aliens'' was organised by

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

's in-house creative agency 4Creative. Centred on the slogan "Fight Human Oppression", the faux-political campaign interrupted several Channel 4 shows throughout February 2016. It also appeared on radio and cinema, interrupting DCM's usual ident. Shots featured a female member of the "Alien League" asking the viewer for help "fighting human oppression", before being wrestled away.

Broadcast

Following its April conclusion, the show also aired on

Space Space is the boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events have relative position and direction. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider ...

in Canada in May. It concluded on 8 June 2016. In Germany,

ZDFneo ZDFneo is a German free-to-air television channel, programmed for an audience aged 25 to 49 to counter the primarily older-skewing main channels of public broadcasters ZDF and ARD. It replaced ZDF's documentary channel ZDFdokukanal on 1 Novemb ...

aired the show in October 2016.

Cast and characters

as Lewis Garvey *

as Dominic *

as LilyHot *

as Antoine Berry *

Holli Dempsey Holli Dempsey (born 11 May 1990) is an English actress and comedian. She played Vicky in Ricky Gervais’s ''DerekDerek's Ladies Kerry Godliman And Holli Dempsey'Derek's Ladies Kerry Godliman And Holli Dempsey Reveal What Kind Of 'Office' Ric ...

as Holly Garvey *

Trystan Gravelle Trystan Gravelle (born 4 May 1981) is a Welsh theatre, film and television actor. Life and career Gravelle was born in the Welsh village of Trimsaran in Carmarthenshire. He attended Ysgol Gyfun Y Strade. He was a member of the Llanelli Youth T ...

as Fabien * Chanel Cresswell as Paulette * Chetna Pandya as Chief

Episodes

Reception

''The List'''s Brian Donaldson compared the show to the 2015 ''Humans'', and wrote that "from almost its opening scene, ''The Aliens'' dives headlong into the issues it wants to tackle... politicians talking about building walls is barely off the news just now and ''The Aliens'' taps right into this." Tim Dowling of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' called "Tremendous fun." Channel 4 announced in May 2016 that ''The Aliens'' would not be renewed for a second series.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Aliens (Tv Series), The Aliens, The Aliens, The Aliens, The Aliens, The Aliens, The Aliens, The Aliens, The Aliens, The Television series by Clerkenwell Films Aliens, The British fantasy television series