''The State Within'' is a six-part British television political thriller series, written and created by

Lizzie Mickery Elizabeth Mickery is a British writer and former actress. She was known for her role as Maggie Thorpe in the BBC television drama series '' Tenko'', roles in ''Emmerdale Farm'', ''Juliet Bravo'', '' Lovejoy'', '' Heartbeat'', ''Woof!'', ''The Mer ...

and

Daniel Percival Daniel Percival is a retired English television, theatre and film actor. Early life and education Percival was born in Leeds, Yorkshire, England. He attended Leeds University, before moving to study at RADA from 2002 to 2005, where he obtai ...

, that was broadcast on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...

in the United Kingdom from Thursday, 2 November 2006. The series, directed by Percival and

Michael Offer Michael Offer is an Australian film and television director. His television credits range from directing episodes of television series in his home country, Australia, to other regions such as the United Kingdom and the United States. Those cre ...

and produced by Grainne Marmion, is a joint production between BBC Films and

BBC America BBC America is an American basic cable network that is jointly owned by BBC Studios and AMC Networks. The channel primarily airs sci-fi and action series and films, as well as selected programs from the BBC (such as its nature documentary ser ...

that follows Sir Mark Brydon (

Jason Isaacs Jason Isaacs (born 6 June 1963) is an English actor. Isaac's film roles include Col. Tavington in '' The Patriot'' (2000), Michael D. Steele in '' Black Hawk Down'' (2001), Lucius Malfoy in the ''Harry Potter'' film series (2002–2011), C ...

), the British Ambassador to Washington, who is caught in the centre of a political conspiracy threatening to depose Western governments. As such, he must prevent a war, all whilst facing his own personal dilemmas. On 22 January 2007, the series was released on DVD in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. In the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, the series premiered during

Presidents Day Presidents' Day, also called Washington's Birthday at the federal governmental level, is a holiday in the United States celebrated on the third Monday of February to honor all persons who served as presidents of the United States and, since 1879 ...

weekend as a three-part

miniseries A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format h ...

, concluding on 24 February 2007. After being repeated on

BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

in June 2007 as part of the channel's ''Conspiracy U.S.A.'' week of programming, the series subsequently released on

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

worldwide, where it was edited down into seven 50-minute episodes. The series was subsequently nominated for two

Golden Globe Awards The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of t ...

in the categories ''Best Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television'' and ''Best Actor - Miniseries or Television Film''.

Plot

Lynne Warner (

Sharon Gless Sharon Marguerite Gless (born May 31, 1943) is an American actress and author, who is known for her television roles as Maggie Philbin on ''Switch'' (1975–78), Sgt. Christine Cagney in the police procedural drama series ''Cagney & Lacey'' (198 ...

) is the

United States Secretary of Defense The United States secretary of defense (SecDef) is the head of the United States Department of Defense, the executive department of the U.S. Armed Forces, and is a high ranking member of the federal cabinet. DoDD 5100.1: Enclosure 2: a The s ...

, Nicholas Brocklehurst ( Ben Daniels) is nominally the British Counsellor External Affairs, but is a

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 ...

(MI6) agent assigned to embassy duty, and James Sinclair (

Alex Jennings Alex Jennings (born 10 May 1957) is an English actor of the stage and screen, who worked extensively with the Royal Shakespeare Company and National Theatre. For his work on the London stage, Jennings received three Olivier Awards, winning for ...

) is the former British ambassador to the fictional former Soviet republic of Tyrgyzstan (cf.

Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan,, pronounced or the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and the People's Republic of China to the east. ...

). This character resembles

Craig Murray Craig John Murray (born 17 October 1958) is a Scottish author, human rights campaigner, journalist, and former diplomat for the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Between 2002 and 2004, he was the British ambassador to Uzbekistan during ...

, the British ambassador who exposed British and American complicity in torture and human rights abuses in

Uzbekistan Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked cou ...

Cast

Main cast

as Sir Mark Brydon; British ambassador to

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

* Ben Daniels as Nicholas Brocklehurst; an

MI6 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 ...

agent and Counsellor for External Affairs *

Eva Birthistle Eva Birthistle (born 1974) is an Irish actress and writer. She is best known for her role in '' Ae Fond Kiss...'' and since 2015 has starred in ''The Last Kingdom''. She won the London Film Critics Circle British or Irish Actress of the Year A ...

as Jane Lavery; employee of the Human Rights Commission *

Neil Pearson Neil John Pearson (born 27 April 1959) is a British actor, known for his work on television. He was nominated for the 1994 BAFTA TV Award for Best Actor for '' Between the Lines'' (1992–1994). His other television roles include ''Drop the D ...

as Phil Lonsdale; Deputy Head of Mission at the British Embassy *

Genevieve O'Reilly Genevieve O'Reilly (born 6 January 1977) is an Irish actress. She is known for her work in the ''Star Wars'' franchise as Mon Mothma, having portrayed the character in ''Revenge of the Sith'', ''Rogue One'', and the Disney+ series '' Andor'', ...

as Caroline Hanley; daughter of the plane victim *

as Lynne Warner; American Secretary of Defence *

Noam Jenkins Noam Jenkins is a Canadian actor, voice actor, and television director. He is best known for his portrayal as Aiden Pearce in the 2014 video game ''Watch Dogs'', and Detective Jerry Barber on Global's ''Rookie Blue ''Rookie Blue'' is a Canad ...

as Christopher Styles; Head of Defence Intelligence *

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as Gordon Adair; CEO of the Armitage Corporation * Christopher Bolton as Vinny Swain *

Nigel Bennett Nigel Bennett (born 19 November 1949) is a British-Canadian actor, director, and writer who has been based in Canada since 1986. He is best known for playing the vampire patriarch Lucien LaCroix in the TV series ''Forever Knight'', for which h ...

as Colonel Charles Macintyre; president of CMC Secure Operations *

Marnie McPhail Marnie McPhail Diamond is an American actress and musician who is well known for playing Maria Wong in '' Braceface'', Annie Edison in ''The Edison Twins'', and Peaches in ''JoJo's Circus''. Personal life McPhail was born and raised in Columbu ...

as George Blake *

as James Sinclair; ex-British Ambassador to Tyrgyzan *

Aaron Abrams Aaron Abrams (born 12 May 1978) is a Canadian actor and writer, who has worked in both film and television. Born in Toronto, Abrams has appeared as a regular on several series, including Hannibal, Blindspot, '' The State Within'', '' Slings a ...

as Matthew Weiss *

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 ...

as Luke Gardner; an ex-British paratrooper currently on Death Row for murder

Supporting cast

* Emma Campbell as Sally Davis * Rahnuma Panthaky as Nasreen Qureshi * Briony Glassco as Jennifer Grimes * Louca Tassone as Azzam Sinclair * Roman Podhora as Vernon Burchill * Michael Rhoades as Gary Pritchard *

Ron Lea Ron Lea is a Canadian actor, best known for his roles in '' Doc'', '' Street Legal'', and '' This is Wonderland''. Lea also served as a director on some episodes of ''Doc''. Filmography Film Television External links *Lea bio {{DEFAUL ...

as Carl Garcia * Patrick Garrow as Brad Godovsky * David Eisner as Sam Levinson

Episodes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:State Within, The BBC Film films 2000s British drama television series 2006 British television series debuts 2006 British television series endings BBC high definition shows BBC television dramas British political drama television series 2000s British television miniseries 2006 in British politics English-language television shows Television shows set in London Television shows set in Canada Television shows set in the United States