The BBC has announced ‘Waiting For The Out‘ (working title) a brand new drama from Dennis Kelly (Together, Utopia, Matilda The Musical), starring Josh Finan, Gerard Kearns, Samantha Spiro and Phil Daniels, produced by the award-winning SISTER (The Split, Black Doves, This Is Going to Hurt, Chernobyl).
Pitured above: L-R: Josh Finan (Image: Ruth Crafer), Gerard Kearns (Image: Colin A Boulter), Samantha Spiro (Image: Vahid Gold), Phil Daniels, Stephen Wight (Image: Joe Watson), Ronk? Adékolu?jo (Image: Urban Decay Visuals), Neal Barry (Image: Phil Sharp), and Alex Ferns (Image: Kirsty Anderson). Supplied by the BBC.
BAFTA-nominated Josh Finan (The Responder) leads the cast as Dan, a philosopher who begins teaching a class of men in prison. Each week, Dan leads discussions about dominance, freedom, luck and other topics that have troubled philosophers for thousands of years – topics that gain a new meaning when seen through the prisoners’ eyes – both igniting passions and creating tension.
Through his work, Dan begins to dig deeper into his own past, growing up with a violent father (Kearns) who ended up in prison, as did his brother Lee (Stephen Wight) and uncle Frank (Phil Daniels). Dan took a different path, but his time working in a prison begins to make him worry, obsessively, that he belongs behind bars just like his father. As Dan’s personal crisis deepens, his actions begin to threaten both his own future, and his family’s.
Joining Finan is Gerard Kearns (The Day of the Jackal), Samantha Spiro (Sex Education), Phil Daniels (House of the Dragon), Stephen Wight (Bergerac), Ronk? Adékolu?jo (Rain Dogs), Neal Barry (Rain Dogs), Alex Ferns (Andor), Francis Lovehall (A Thousand Blows), Steven Meo (House of the Dragon), Ric Renton (One Off), Tom Moutchi (Gladiator II), Nima Taleghani (Heartstopper), Sule Rimi (The Day of the Jackal), Charlie Rix (Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power) and Jude Mack (Such Brave Girls).
The original six-part series based on Andy West’s acclaimed memoir The Life Inside, adapted by the multi-award-winning writer Dennis Kelly.
“It’s not at all unusual for the men in Andy West’s family to end up in prison – but Andy is the only one that chose to be there,” said Kelly. “His book is funny, insightful, beautiful, genuinely heartbreaking and nothing like what you’d expect it to be – we’ve tried to take that into the series. God alone knows if we’ve succeeded, but we’ve tried…”
Andy West, executive producer and author of The Life Inside, adds: “I’m so thankful to the writers, directors, producers and everyone involved in adapting The Life Inside. They have brought extraordinary creative and moral imagination to the stories in the book. We all hope to make a series that goes beyond the cliches about prisons and the families inside them and that touches people either side of the wall.”
The series will be directed by Jeanette Nordahl (The Responder) and Ben Palmer (Douglas is Cancelled), with Louise Sutton (Black Mirror) serving as producer. The executive producers are Dennis Kelly, Jane Featherstone (Black Doves, This is Going to Hurt), Chris Fry (Black Doves, Giri/Haji), Katie Carpenter (Kaos, Landscapers) and Andy West for SISTER, and Tanya Qureshi for the BBC. The project is backed by BBC Studios, who will handle global sales.
‘Waiting For The Out‘ does not yet have a premiere date but will air on BBC One and iPlayer, and is now filming in and around Liverpool. If you want to keep track of this or any other show, you can add them via our Never Miss system, and you’ll be notified when they get a UK premiere date.
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