''Page Eight'' is a 2011 British

political thriller A political thriller is a thriller that is set against the backdrop of a political power struggle, high stakes and suspense is the core of the story. The genre often forces the audiences to consider and understand the importance of politics. The st ...

, written and directed for the BBC by the British dramatist David Hare, his first film as director since the 1989 film ''

Strapless ''Strapless'' is a 1989 film written and directed by David Hare. Plot summary An expatriate American doctor in London allows herself to lighten up when her freewheeling younger sister and a mysterious man enter her life. Her inhibitions relea ...

''. The cast includes

Bill Nighy William Francis Nighy (; born 12 December 1949) is an English actor. Nighy started his career with the Everyman Theatre, Liverpool and made his London debut with the Royal National Theatre starting with '' The Illuminatus!'' in 1977. There he ...

Rachel Weisz Rachel Hannah Weisz (; born 7 March 1970 ) is an English actress. She is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Laurence Olivier Award, and a BAFTA Award. Weisz began acting in British stage and television in the ...

Michael Gambon Sir Michael John Gambon (; born 19 October 1940) is an Irish-English actor. Regarded as one of Ireland and Britain's most distinguished actors, he is known for his work on stage and screen. Gambon started his acting career with Laurence Olivi ...

, Tom Hughes,

Ralph Fiennes Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes ( ; born 22 December 1962) is an English actor, film producer, and director. A Shakespeare interpreter, he excelled onstage at the Royal National Theatre before having further success at the Royal Shak ...

, and

Judy Davis Judith Davis (born 23 April 1955) is an Australian actress in film, television, and on stage. With a career spanning over 40 years, she has been commended for her versatility and regarded as one of the finest actresses of her generation. Frequen ...

. The film was followed by '' Turks & Caicos'' (2014) and ''

Salting the Battlefield ''Salting the Battlefield'' is a 2014 British political thriller television film, written and directed for the BBC by the British writer David Hare. It follows ''Page Eight'', which aired on BBC Two in August 2011 and ''Turks & Caicos'', which ...

'' (2014), which were broadcast on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream a ...

in March 2014. The three films are collectively known as ''The Worricker Trilogy''.

Plot summary

Johnny Worricker is a long-serving MI5 officer. His best friend and superior,

director general A director general or director-general (plural: ''directors general'', ''directors-general'', ''director generals'' or ''director-generals'' ) or general director is a senior executive officer, often the chief executive officer, within a government ...

Benedict Baron, summons Johnny to a meeting with MI5 agent Jill Tankard and

Home Secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, otherwise known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The home secretary leads the Home Office, and is responsible for all nationa ...

Anthea Catcheside regarding a potentially explosive report. Worricker highlights a note at the foot of page eight alleging that

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

Alec Beasley has knowledge of secret overseas prisons where American authorities have tortured terror suspects. If true, Beasley did not share any intelligence gained with the security services, at the possible expense of British lives. At the same time, Johnny begins spending time with his neighbour Nancy Pierpan, a

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

n-born political activist whose brother was killed by the

Israeli military The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branch ...

. Johnny shares his love of

modern art Modern art includes artistic work produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the styles and philosophies of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the tradi ...

and

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

with Nancy but, wondering if she aims to exploit his connections, asks friend and covert intelligence operative Rollo to investigate her. Meanwhile, Baron dies of a heart attack at his country home before he can make the report public. Beasley orders the report to be buried and tells Johnny of his plans to replace MI5 with a US-style

Homeland Security Homeland security is an American national security term for "the national effort to ensure a homeland that is safe, secure, and resilient against terrorism and other hazards where American interests, aspirations, and ways of life can thrive" t ...

organisation. Catcheside's silence is bought by naming her

Deputy Prime Minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president, ...

. Johnny sells a valuable Christopher Wood painting from his own art collection, for cash. He breaks into the studio of an acquaintance of Nancy's, seen loitering around the apartment building, and learns that the acquaintance is Tankard's son and has been paid to monitor him. Johnny realises that Beasley and Tankard are running a politicised "cowboy" intelligence operation. Johnny gives Nancy a copy of the secret file on her brother's death but points out that he would be implicated if its existence were to be revealed by her. Johnny ends up making a deal with Tankard to keep quiet about the report. In return for Johnny's silence, Tankard agrees to kill the reorganisation of the intelligence services and leak the file on Nancy's brother's murder to the BBC. The fallout forces Johnny to disappear for his safety. Johnny gives Nancy another Christopher Wood painting from his collection and tells her she can have his car, as he is leaving the country. On seeing the leaked report of her brother's murder on the news, she realises that Johnny arranged it to allow her to pursue a legal case against the Israelis without implicating himself. At

Stansted Airport London Stansted Airport is a tertiary international airport serving London, England, United Kingdom. It is located near Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex, England, northeast of Central London. London Stansted serves over 160 destinations acro ...

, Johnny dumps the original report incriminating Beasley in a rubbish bin. As Johnny looks at the departure screen, Nancy looks closely at Johnny's painting, of a church near a beach.

Cast

as Johnny Worricker, MI5 analyst *

as Nancy Pierpan, political activist *

as Benedict Baron, Director General of MI5 *

as Jill Tankard, MI5 officer collaborating with the Prime Minister * Tom Hughes as Ralph Wilson, private investigator and Jill Tankard's son * Saskia Reeves as Anthea Catcheside,

Ewen Bremner Ewen Bremner (born 23 January 1972) is a Scottish character actor. His roles have included Julien in ''Julien Donkey-Boy'' and Daniel "Spud" Murphy in '' Trainspotting'' and its 2017 sequel '' T2 Trainspotting''. Early life Bremner was born i ...

as Rollo Maverley, journalist and former MI5 officer * Felicity Jones as Julianne Worricker, Johnny's daughter *

as Alec Beasley,

* Alice Krige as Emma Baron, Benedict Baron's wife and Johnny's ex-wife * Holly Aird as Anna Herve, assistant to the Home Secretary and former lover to Johnny *

Richard Lintern Richard Charles Lintern (born 8 October 1962) is an English stage, voice and screen actor. Early life Lintern was born in Taunton, Somerset. He studied English Literature at Durham University. He subsequently won a scholarship to the Royal A ...

as Max Vallance, assistant to the Prime Minister * Bruce Myers as Joseph Pierpan, Nancy Pierpan's father *

Rakhee Thakrar Rakhee Thakrar (born 29 February 1984) is an English actress. She is known for her roles as Shabnam Masood in the BBC One soap opera ''EastEnders'' (2014–2016) and Emily Sands in the Netflix comedy-drama ''Sex Education'' (2019–2021). She als ...

as Muna Hammami * Kate Burdette as Allegra Betts * Andrew Cleaver as Brian Lord *

Marthe Keller Marthe Keller (born 28 January 1945) is a Swiss actress and opera director. She is perhaps best known for her role in the film ''Marathon Man (film), Marathon Man'' (1976), for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting ...

as Leona Chew *

Aisling Loftus Aisling Sinead Katie Loftus (born 1 September 1990) is a British actress. She began her career as a child actress and gained prominence through her roles in the BBC dramas ''Five Daughters'' (2010) and '' Dive'' (2010), the play ''Spur of the Mo ...

as Melissa Legge *

James McArdle James John McArdle (born 3 April 1989) is a Scottish actor from Glasgow. He won the Ian Charleson Award for his role as Mikhail Platonov in '' Platonov'' and was nominated for an Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for po ...

as Ted Finch * Jay Benedict as Master of the college * Surendra Kochar as Mrs. Ashanti *

Bijan Daneshmand Bijan Daneshmand (born 16 August 1958) is an Iranian born-English actor and artist based in London, England. He was born in Tehran, Iran, and was sent to England for his schooling at the age of 10. He was educated in England at Eastbourne Colleg ...

as Cambridge don * Kriss Dosanjh as Minicab owner * Hywel Morgan as Priest *

Rory Morrison Rory David Morrison (5 August 1964 – 11 June 2013) was a newsreader and continuity announcer for BBC Radio 4. Early life and education Morrison was born in London in 1964, the eldest of Anne and Bob Morrison's three children. He was bro ...

as Radio Newsreader *

Charlotte Green Charlotte Green (born 4 May 1956) is a British radio broadcaster and a former continuity announcer and news reader for BBC Radio 4. After 1988 she specialised in news reading, including reading the news on Radio 4 breakfast ''Today'' programme ...

as Radio Newsreader

Production

Parts were filmed in

Jesus College, Cambridge Jesus College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's full name is The College of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint John the Evangelist and the glorious Virgin Saint Radegund, near Cambridge. Its common name comes ...

, in which undergraduates and Fellows were recruited as extras. The gallery scene where Worricker sells his painting is filmed in

Saffron Walden Saffron Walden is a market town in the Uttlesford district of Essex, England, north of Bishop's Stortford, south of Cambridge and north of London. It retains a rural appearance and some buildings of the medieval period. The population was 15, ...

; the property used as the gallery is on the corner of Church Street and Museum Street, number 26a and 28 Church Street. It is a listed building. Worricker then collects his parked car from Market Hill in that town outside the Kings Arms public house.

Release

The film had its world premiere on 18 June 2011 at the

Edinburgh International Film Festival The Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) is a film festival that runs for two weeks in June each year. Established in 1947, it is the world's oldest continually running film festival. EIFF presents both UK and international films (all ti ...

and closed the 36th Toronto International Film Festival on 17 September 2011. It was broadcast on

and

BBC HD BBC HD was a 24-hour high-definition television channel provided by the BBC. The service was initially run as a trial from 15 May 2006 until becoming a full service on 1 December 2007 before its discontinuation on 26 March 2013. It broadcast ...

on 28 August 2011 in the United Kingdom, and on PBS in the United States on 6 November 2011, as part of its '' Masterpiece Contemporary'' anthology series. It was released on DVD and

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...

on 5 September 2013 by

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...

Accolades

At the 2011 Satellite Awards, ''Page Eight'' was nominated for Best Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television. Bill Nighy and Rachel Weisz were nominated for Best Actor in a Miniseries or a Motion Picture Made for Television and Best Actress in a Miniseries or a Motion Picture Made for Television, respectively. Bill Nighy received a nomination for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film at the 2012 Golden Globe Awards. Martin Ruhe, Page Eight's Director of Photography, won Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in Motion Picture/Miniseries Television at the 26th American Society of Cinematographers Awards. ''Page Eight'' received a nomination nod for Best TV Movie at the 2012 Rose d’Or TV Festival. At the

2012 British Academy Television Awards The 2012 British Academy Television Awards (formally known as the Arqiva British Academy Television Awards) were held on 27 May 2012 at the Royal Festival Hall in London. The nominees were announced on 24 April 2012. Winners and nominees Winners ...

, ''Page Eight'' was nominated for the Single Drama Award. Paul Englishby was nominated for Best Television Soundtrack at the 2012

Ivor Novello Ivor Novello (born David Ivor Davies; 15 January 1893 – 6 March 1951) was a Welsh actor, dramatist, singer and composer who became one of the most popular British entertainers of the first half of the 20th century. He was born into a musical ...

Awards. At the 2012 Critics' Choice Television Awards, ''Page Eight'' was nominated for Best Made for TV Movie/Mini Series, while Bill Nighy was nominated for Best Actor. At the 2012 Primetime Emmy Awards, Judy Davis received a nomination nod in the category of Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie, while Paul Englishby won for Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music.

References

External links

* {{EmmyAward MainTitleThemeMusic 2010s spy films 2011 thriller drama films British crime films BBC Film films Films directed by David Hare British political films British spy films British thriller drama films 2011 in British television 2011 in British politics Films produced by David Barron Films produced by David Heyman MI5 in fiction Murder in films Spy television films Crime television films Action television films British thriller television films Films shot in Cambridgeshire 2011 films 2010s British films