''Friends and Crocodiles'' is a one-off British television drama production, written and directed by Stephen Poliakoff and first 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, ...

on 15 January 2006.

Overview

The film charts the shifting power between a boss and his secretary as their careers rise and fall in the rapidly changing workplace of 1980s and 1990s Britain. ''Friends and Crocodiles'' stars

Damian Lewis Damian Watcyn Lewis (born 11 February 1971) is an English actor, presenter and producer. He is best known for portraying U.S. Army Major Richard Winters in the HBO miniseries '' Band of Brothers'', which earned him a Golden Globe nomination ...

Jodhi May Jodhi Tania May (''née'' Hakim-Edwards; 8 May 1975) is a British actress. She remains the youngest recipient of the Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival, for ''A World Apart'' (1988). Her other film appearances include ''The Last ...

and Robert Lindsay with an ensemble cast that includes

Patrick Malahide Patrick Gerald Duggan (born 24 March 1945), known professionally as Patrick Malahide, is a veteran British film, television and theatre actor, author and producer, known, amongst other things, for his roles as Inspector Alleyn in '' The Inspec ...

and

Eddie Marsan Edward Maurice Charles Marsan (born 9 June 1968) is an English actor. He won the London Film Critics Circle Award and the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor for the film '' Happy-Go-Lucky'' (2008). He has feature ...

. Damian Lewis plays Paul, a '' Gatsby''-like figure and inspirational entrepreneur. He is a host of fabulous parties, a "collector" of interesting people, a visionary with dreams of new urban landscapes, and keeper of a pet crocodile. Jodhi May plays Lizzie, who is persuaded by Paul to become his secretary and bring some order to his creative chaos. Once at Paul's magnificent house, Lizzie's world expands as she meets artists, historians and politicians. The drama was loosely linked to a second Poliakoff piece, ''

Gideon's Daughter ''Gideon's Daughter'' is the second of two linked BBC television dramas written and directed by Stephen Poliakoff. Produced independently for the BBC by Talkback Thames and starring Bill Nighy, Miranda Richardson, and Emily Blunt, it aired i ...

'', broadcast the following month. Although the links were more thematic than narrative, the character of Sneath (Lindsay) reappeared in ''Gideon's Daughter'', acting as the narrator.

Cast

Trivia

The location of the final scene around the fire is Weavers Fields in

Bethnal Green Bethnal Green is an area in the East End of London northeast of Charing Cross. The area emerged from the small settlement which developed around the Green, much of which survives today as Bethnal Green Gardens, beside Cambridge Heath Road. By ...

References

External links

''Friends and Crocodiles''
at bbc.co.uk. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Friends And Crocodiles BBC television dramas Films directed by Stephen Poliakoff 2006 television films 2006 films 2000s business films