''The Casual Vacancy'' is a 2015 British miniseries based on the 2012 novel of the same title by

J. K. Rowling Joanne Rowling ( "rolling"; born 31 July 1965), also known by her pen name J. K. Rowling, is a British author and philanthropist. She wrote ''Harry Potter'', a seven-volume children's fantasy series published from 1997 to 2007. The ser ...

. Directed by

Jonny Campbell Jonny Campbell is a British director. Biography Campbell studied French and German at Durham University and began his career at Granada TV working on documentaries. He soon moved into drama. Selected filmography Film * '' Alien Autopsy'' (2006 ...

and written by

Sarah Phelps Sarah Phelps is a British television screenwriter, radio writer, playwright and television producer. She is best known for her work on ''EastEnders'', a number of BBC serial adaptations including Agatha Christie's ''The Witness For the Prosecut ...

, the series premiered on 15 February 2015 on BBC One in the United Kingdom and on 29 April 2015 on HBO in the United States.

Cast

Rory Kinnear Rory Michael Kinnear (born 17 February 1978) is an English actor and playwright who has worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theatre. In 2014, he won the Olivier Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of William Sha ...

as Barry Fairbrother *

Emily Bevan Emily Grace Bevan (born 11 August 1982) is an English actress. She is best known for her roles in ''The Casual Vacancy'' and ''In the Flesh''. Early life and education Bevan was born in Shrewsbury, Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively ...

as Mary Fairbrother * Michael Gambon as Howard Mollison *

Julia McKenzie Julia Kathleen Nancy McKenzie (born 17 February 1941) is an English actress, singer, presenter, and theatre director. She has premièred leading roles written by both Alan Ayckbourn and Stephen Sondheim. On television, she is known for her BAFT ...

as Shirley Mollison * Rufus Jones as Miles Mollison *

Keeley Hawes Claire Julia Hawes (born 10 February 1976), known professionally as Keeley Hawes, is an English actress. After beginning her career in a number of literary adaptations, including ''Our Mutual Friend'' (1998) and '' Tipping the Velvet'' (2002), Ha ...

as Samantha Mollison * Hetty Baynes as Maureen Lowe * Abigail Lawrie as Krystal Weedon * Keeley Forsyth as Terri Weedon *

Simon McBurney Simon Montagu McBurney (born 25 August 1957) is an English actor, playwright, and theatrical director. He is the founder and artistic director of the Théâtre de Complicité, London. He has had roles in the films '' The Manchurian Candidate'' ...

as Colin 'Cubby' Wall *

Monica Dolan Monica Margaret Dolan (born 15 March 1969) is an English actress. She won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Supporting Actress for playing Rosemary West in '' Appropriate Adult'' (2011). Career Dolan was born in Middlesbrough and trained at the Gu ...

as Tess Wall *

Brian Vernel Brian Vernel (born 29 December 1990) is a Scottish actor best known for his film role in ''Star Wars: The Force Awakens'' and as the character Odda the Younger in the TV series ''The Last Kingdom (TV series), The Last Kingdom'' and Billy Wallac ...

as Stuart 'Fats' Wall *Richard Glover as Simon Price *Marie Critchley as Ruth Price *Joe Hurst as Andrew 'Arf' Price * Michele Austin as Kay Bawden * Lolita Chakrabarti as Parminder Jawanda *

Silas Carson Silas Carson (born 1965) is an English actor, mostly known for playing Jedi Master Ki-Adi-Mundi and Viceroy Nute Gunray in all three of the ''Star Wars'' prequels and providing the voice of the Ood in ''Doctor Who''. Life and career In ''Sta ...

as Vikram Jawanda *Ria Choony as Sukhvinder Jawanda * Simona Brown as Gaia Bawden *

Julian Wadham Julian Neil Rohan Wadham (born 7 August 1958) is an English actor of stage, film and television. He was educated at Ampleforth College and the Central School of Speech and Drama, third son of Rohan Nicholas Wadham DFC and Juliana Wadham, née ...

as Aubrey Sweetlove *

Emilia Fox Emilia Rose Elizabeth Fox (born 31 July 1974) is an English actress and presenter whose film debut was in Roman Polanski's film '' The Pianist''. Her other films include the Italian–French–British romance-drama film '' The Soul Keeper'' (2 ...

as Julia Sweetlove

Production

The miniseries was announced on 3 December 2012. It was commissioned from The Blair Partnership who represent J. K. Rowling. The series was produced through an independent production company operated by

Neil Blair Captain Robert Neil Blair CVO RN was Private Secretary and Treasurer to The Duke of York, 1990–2001. Blair was born in 1936, and educated at St John's College, Johannesburg, and Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth. He served in the Ro ...

and Rick Senat (who were executive producers of the series), on behalf of The Blair Partnership. The deal was struck following discussions between Blair and BBC One Controller Danny Cohen. J. K. Rowling was to collaborate closely with the project, with the number and length of the episodes then still to be decided. On 12 September 2013,

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

announced that it will serve as the worldwide TV distributor of the series, except in the United Kingdom. After a year and a half without news on the production itself, casting was announced in June 2014. Filming began in August 2014 in the

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

towns of

Painswick Painswick is a town and civil parish in the Stroud District in Gloucestershire, England. Originally the town grew from the wool trade, but it is now best known for its parish church's yew trees and the local Rococo Garden. The village is mainly ...

, Bisley,

Northleach Northleach is a market town and former civil parish, now in parish Northleach with Eastington, in the Cotswold district, in Gloucestershire, England. The town is in the valley of the River Leach in the Cotswolds, about northeast of Cirenceste ...

and

Minchinhampton Minchinhampton is an ancient Cotswolds market town in the Stroud District in Gloucestershire, South West England. The town is located on a hilltop, south-east of Stroud. The common offers wide views over the Severn Estuary into Wales and furth ...

Dauntsey Dauntsey is a small village and civil parish in the county of Wiltshire, England. It gives its name to the Dauntsey Vale in which it lies and takes its name from Saxon for Dantes- eig, or Dante's island. It is set on slightly higher ground in ...

, and in the city of

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

and at

Archway School Archway School is a comprehensive co-educational school for pupils aged 11 to 18 in Stroud, Gloucestershire, England. The headteacher is Kieron Smith. Set in at the western edge of the Cotswold town of Stroud, the school takes its name from ...

. British band Solomon Grey composed the music for the series, which heavily features tracks from their 2015 album ''Selected Works'', along with original songs.

Episodes

Critical reception

The critical response to the opening episode was mostly positive. In a particularly praise-filled review for Digital Spy, Cameron McKewan described the series as having a "perfect cast with a biting script". He summarised: "It's a cracking first instalment for the three-part series with bountiful characters to take in, and the relationships not clearly defined from the outset (rewardingly so)" In a review for ''

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 ...

'', Stuart Jeffries also gave a positive response, whilst describing the series as "The Archers meets Benefit Street" Comparing the TV adaptation more positively than the novel itself, Gerard O'Donovan, in a review for ''

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...

'', awarded the series opener 4 out of 5 stars. He optimistically summarised: "...the performances are uniformly good, the direction is inventive, and there's an undeniable topicality and panache to this adaptation that convinces you that just around the corner something will pull it all together and make it succeed." Ellen E Jones, writing for ''

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 publish ...

'', took a similar approach with review title: "JK Rowling's story is a far better drama than it is a book" Elsewhere, however, reception to the series opening episode was less favourable.

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 ''

'' said that "it was odd to read reports that the show was attacking the middle classes and glorifying 'the noble savage'. It was glaringly clear, to me at least, from Phelps' script that while Michael Gambon's character Howard Mollison was indeed a terrible snob, we could hardly disagree that the 'feral' kids wiping bogeys down his deli window were spoiling village ambience. These were difficult notions of 'village life' – the junkies, the domestic abusers, the shark-like property developers, the upwardly mobiles, ndthe downwardly spiralling – and I applaud Rowling and Phelps for picking at them."

References

External links

* – official website * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Casual Vacancy, The 2015 British television series debuts 2015 British television series endings 2010s British drama television series 2010s British television miniseries BBC television dramas Television shows based on British novels English-language television shows Television shows set in Gloucestershire Television series by Warner Bros. Television Studios Adaptations of works by J. K. Rowling