New ITV thriller Out There reunites Martin Clunes with writer and director Ed Whitmore and Marc Evans, after the trio worked together on two seasons of Manhunt.
All three recently appeared at a screening and Q&A for the series, which follows a farmer, Nathan, who has to defend and protect his son after he gets wrapped up in county lines drug dealing.
County lines is the term used to refer to drugs being transported from one area to another, often across police and local authority boundaries, usually by vulnerable people such as children who are exploited by gangs.
At the Q&A, the trio were asked about their decision to bring issues surrounding county lines drug dealing to the screen, thus giving them greater cultural prominence, and specifically whether they were hoping the drama could have an impact like Mr Bates vs the Post Office, which led to a renewed interest in the Post Office scandal and actual legislative change.
pretty unique instance to compare anything to when there’s a public inquiry with a result imminent, which there isn’t in this case. I don’t know, is the honest answer. I don’t know if that’s our brief, but we’re highlighting what we feel is salient and relevant in our drama.”
Martin Clunes as Nathan Williams and Louis Ashbourne Serkis as Johnny Williams in Out There. ITV/Buffalo Picturesthere‘s a thing with true crime where you do ask yourself a question, not just what the story is that you’re shooting, but why you’re shooting it, what the themes might be.
really visible because of COVID and how we didn’t look after old people at the time as well as we should have, perhaps.
out things.
there to make the story more exciting’, but actually there‘s plenty to be found in the real situation that makes it interesting and dramatic anyway.”
Martin Clunes suggested that the drama could change people’s attitudes to the issue, revealing that he himself had a “preconception that this is teenage boys having a go at being macho and being a bit gangster”, but that the series helped him realise that “it’s actually vulnerable people and all kinds of people” that get caught up in county lines drug dealing.
“And it’s not a choice they made, they got hoodwinked into it, they got tricked into it, and that does happen an awful lot,” Clunes said. “And they become part of a disposable workforce with little or no respect for their wellbeing.”
there‘s a relationship between the way that Nathan’s character goes on a journey into this dark world, and in that process there‘s illumination.
real-life accounts, especially parents who say, you know, ‘we were sort of in the dark, and then illumination came but too late’, often. And so I feel like, as you watch the show, inevitably, there‘s a sort of meta relationship with the audience, we hope we’ll be illuminating this world with some authenticity.
that, or understand the sort of context of county lines better… and it’s interesting just talking to people about it – a lot of people still don’t even really know what it is at all, they’ve never even heard of it. So, if we can provide some illumination of some kind, I feel that’s great.”
Alongside Clunes, Out There also stars Louis Ashbourne-Serkis as Nathan’s son Johnny, while Mark Lewis Jones plays Nathan’s brother Caleb and the rest of the cast includes Natalia Kostrzewa, Carly-Sophia Davies, Gerran Howell and Michael Obiora.
Read more:
Call the Midwife’s Cyril and Rosalind romance will face hard times ahead Playing Nice star on the “twist” halfway through series: “It gets a lot darker”Out There will be coming to ITV1 and ITVX soon.
Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what’s on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Martin Clunes and Out There creator address potential for Mr Bates-style impact )
Also on site :