Casinos on screen tend to follow a pretty familiar script. Velvet ropes. Crystal chandeliers. People in sharp suits making reckless bets with complete confidence and suspiciously perfect hair. Drama, yes, but also fantasy.
So when a new series rolls in with a casino setting, it’s fair to ask: are we in for more glitz, or something a little more grounded?
Enter The Cage, the BBC’s upcoming drama set in a Liverpool casino. Created by Jamie Davis (You & Me) and featuring a strong cast including Sheridan Smith and Michael Socha, it promises a “high-stakes” story. But from what we’ve seen so far, this one might actually avoid the usual casino clichés.
Instead of focusing on glamorous gamblers or international poker prodigies, The Cage follows the people who work in the casino. The security team. The management. The everyday staff dealing with pressure, power struggles, and people teetering on the edge financially, emotionally, or both. The drama comes not from a slick heist or a dramatic blackjack showdown, but from the daily grind of holding together a business where things constantly threaten to fall apart.
If that sounds refreshingly unglamorous, well, good.
Because the truth is, real gambling life rarely matches what’s shown on TV. There are no tuxedos or swirling camera shots. No dramatic final hands to win back a fortune. Most people aren’t sipping whisky at the high-roller table; they’re more likely playing at slot sites on their phone in their dressing gown while watching Pointless.
The Cage’s setting, a Liverpool casino, far from the Vegas strip, already signals a shift away from fantasy. And the first look images suggest tension and grit, not champagne and diamonds. It’s a story about people under pressure, not escapism with flashing lights.
There’s also real potential here for a deeper, more human kind of drama. Casinos are high-pressure environments for customers, sure, but even more so for the people working behind the scenes. The decisions they make, the people they deal with, the stress they absorb, that’s where The Cage seems to be placing its focus. And that’s where it could really stand out.
So will The Cage lean into something more realistic? Or will it end up caught in the same trap as other casino dramas, dressing up chaos in designer suits and smooth jazz?
We’ll have to wait and see. But for once, it looks like we might be getting a casino story (if you can call it that) that doesn’t pretend it’s all about glamour, and that alone makes it one to watch for me.
Don’t miss the premiere of The Cage, coming soon to BBC One and iPlayer.
