''The Beast Must Die'' is a 2021 British thriller television series based on the novel of the same name by

Nicholas Blake Cecil Day-Lewis (or Day Lewis; 27 April 1904 – 22 May 1972), often written as C. Day-Lewis, was an Irish-born British poet and Poet Laureate from 1968 until his death in 1972. He also wrote mystery stories under the pseudonym of Nicholas Bla ...

, adapted for television by Gaby Chiappe. It centres on a mother's grief for her son who was killed in car accident. She takes matters into her own hands by posing as a novelist to ingratiate herself into the family of the man whom she believes to be responsible for her son's death.

Premise

Following the death of her son in a hit and run, all Frances Cairnes wants is to hunt down and kill the man she believes is responsible. When she finally tracks him down, she tricks her way into his house and plots his murder from within.

Cast and characters

Main

Cush Jumbo Cush Jumbo (born 23 September 1985) is a British actress and writer. She is best known for her leading role as attorney Lucca Quinn in the CBS drama series ''The Good Wife'' (2015–16) and the CBS All Access spin-off series ''The Good Fight'' ...

as Frances Cairnes *

Billy Howle William Walter Douglas Howle (born 9 November 1989) is a British actor. His films include ''On Chesil Beach'', ''The Seagull'', and '' Outlaw King''. On television, he is known for his roles in the E4 drama '' Glue'', the BBC miniseries '' The ...

Nigel Strangeways Nigel Strangeways is a fictional British private detective created by Cecil Day-Lewis, writing under the pen name of Nicholas Blake. He was one of the prominent detectives of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction, appearing in sixteen novels betwee ...

Series 1

Nathaniel Parker Nathaniel Parker (born 18 May 1962) is an English stage and screen actor best known for playing the lead in the BBC crime drama series ''The Inspector Lynley Mysteries'', and Agravaine de Bois in the fourth series of '' Merlin''. Early life N ...

as Blount *

Maeve Dermody Maeve Dermody ( ; born 2 November 1985) is a UK-based Australian actress. After a film appearance at 5 years old, her adult acting career has included work in Australian and British television, theatre, short films, and movies. She characterises ...

as Violet * Douggie McMeekin as Vincent O'Brien * Mia Tomlinson as Lena *

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 Joy *

Jared Harris Jared Francis Harris (born 24 August 1961) is a British actor. His roles include Lane Pryce in the AMC television drama series ''Mad Men'', for which he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Serie ...

as George Rattery * Barney Sayburn as Phil Rattery * William Llande as Martie Cairnes

Episodes

Production

Development

Casting

Filmed on the Isle of Wight.

Release

The miniseries premiered on May 27, 2021, on

BritBox BritBox is an online digital video subscription service, founded by BBC Studios and ITV plc, operating in nine countries across North America, Europe, Australia and South Africa.

. It aired on AMC+ on July 5, 2021, and on AMC on July 12, 2021.

Reception

''The Beast Must Die'' has received positive reviews from critics. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the series holds an approval rating of 85% based on 20 critic reviews, with an average rating of 7.48/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Cush Jumbo and Jared Harris make for thrilling combatants in ''The Beast Must Die'', a coiled potboiler that excels with deft performances and rich atmosphere." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, it has a score of 73 out of 100 based on 9 critics, indicating "Generally favorable".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Beast Must Die (TV series), The BritBox original programming English-language television shows 2020s British drama television series 2021 British television series debuts 2020s British crime drama television series Television series by Scott Free Productions