''Southcliffe'' is a British drama series that aired on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

. Set in a fictional town on the North Kent Marshes, it employs a

nonlinear narrative Nonlinear narrative, disjointed narrative, or disrupted narrative is a narrative technique, sometimes used in literature, film, video games, and other narratives, where events are portrayed, for example, out of chronological order or in other way ...

structure to tell the story of a series of shootings by a local man portrayed by Sean Harris, the cause of the shootings and the effects on the town and residents. The series explores tragedy, grief, responsibility and redemption as seen through the eyes of a journalist returning to the small town of his childhood to cover the story. The series was filmed in

Faversham Faversham is a market town in Kent, England, from London and from Canterbury, next to the Swale, a strip of sea separating mainland Kent from the Isle of Sheppey in the Thames Estuary. It is close to the A2, which follows an ancient Briti ...

in North

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

and was screened in the Special Presentation section at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival.

Cast

* Rory Kinnear – David Whitehead * Sean Harris – Stephen Morton *

Shirley Henderson Shirley Henderson (born 24 November 1965) is a Scottish actress. Her accolades include two Scottish BAFTAs, a VFCC Award and an Olivier Award, as well as BAFTA, BIFA, London Critics' Circle, Chlotrudis, Gotham, and Canadian Screen Award ...

– Claire Salter *

Anatol Yusef Anatol Yusef is an English stage, film and television actor, writer, director. He is best known for his work at The Royal Shakespeare Company, for his portrayal of Meyer Lansky in the television series ''Boardwalk Empire'', and Channel 4's ''S ...

– Paul Gould *

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 ...

– Andrew Salter *

Joe Dempsie Joseph Maxwell Dempsie (born 22 June 1987) is an English actor, best known for his roles as Chris Miles in the E4 teen comedy-drama '' Skins'' (2007–2008) and Gendry Baratheon in ''Game of Thrones'' (2011–2013; 2017–2019). Dempsie's e ...

– Chris Cooper * Geoff Bell – Alan *

Kaya Scodelario Kaya Rose Scodelario-Davis (née Humphrey; born 13 March 1992) is an English actress best known for her roles as Effy Stonem on the E4 teen drama '' Skins'' (2007–2010, 2013), and Teresa in the ''Maze Runner'' film series (2014–2018). Oth ...

– Anna Salter

Production

In August 2012, Channel 4 announced that they had ordered a four-part drama series titled ''Southcliffe''. The drama was written by

Tony Grisoni Tony Grisoni (born 28 October 1952) is a British screenwriter. He lives in London. His first feature film, '' Queen of Hearts'', directed by Jon Amiel, won the Grand Prix at the 1990 Festival du Film de Paris. Life and career He has co-written s ...

and produced by

Warp Films Warp Films is an independent film and television production company based in Sheffield & London, UK. History 2001 – 2012 Warp Films was established by Warp Records founding partners Rob Mitchell and Steve Beckett. It was initially created with ...

, with Peter Carlton and Sophie Gardiner serving as executive producers, and

Sean Durkin Timothy Sean Durkin (born December 9, 1981) is a Canadian film director, screenwriter and producer. He won the Dramatic Directing Award at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival for ''Martha Marcy May Marlene''. His short film, ''Mary Last Seen'', on ...

as director.

Conception

The story is of a fictional English

market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...

devastated by a spate of shootings which take place on 2 November 2011. According to its writer Grisoni, "Southcliffe is a fictional market town inhabited by fictional characters, but with similarities to many actual people and places in Britain today; invisible people, anonymous places." He added that "''Southcliffe'' is an anthem to ordinary people's ability to reinvent themselves in the face of ultimate darkness." He denied that ''Southcliffe''s central conceit is exploitative. "It's not really a story of a spree shooting. It's a story of people who are suddenly robbed of someone very close to them." He insisted that it is vitally important not to portray the shooter as a cartoon monster but that he is a human being and should be treated as one.

Filming

Filming began in October 2012 in Faversham, on an eight-week shooting schedule, and took place at various locations in and around Faversham, including local homes, town centre streets, the Faversham Creek, Hollowshore pub, The Shipwright's Arms, Faversham Recreation Ground, The Market Inn, Oare Marshes, Uplees Cottage, as well as other locations in Kent such as

Whitstable Whitstable () is a town on the north coast of Kent adjoining the convergence of the Swale Estuary and the Greater Thames Estuary in southeastern England, north of Canterbury and west of Herne Bay. The 2011 Census reported a population of ...

East Kent Railway The East Kent Railway (EKR) was an early railway operating between Strood and Faversham in Kent, England, during 1858 and 1859. In the latter year it changed its name to the London, Chatham and Dover Railway to reflect its ambitions to build a ...

, Grain Power Station, Teynham Court Farm,

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of t ...

Hospital,

Sittingbourne Sittingbourne is an industrial town in Kent, south-east England, from Canterbury and from London, beside the Roman Watling Street, an ancient British trackway used by the Romans and the Anglo-Saxons and next to the Swale, a strip of sea separa ...

Police Station, Sittingbourne Community College, and others. Faversham Enterprise Partnership estimated that the filming generated £500,000 for the local economy.

Reception

The critical response to the first two episodes was mostly positive. Benji Wilson of ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

'' thought that with "its muted palette, protracted silences, dank fogs and seething unease, Southcliffe was anything but nice-cup-of-tea and a sit-down TV, but it was a mesmerising tragedy, nonetheless." Arifa Akbar of ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

'' noted "its disturbing silences" and called it "a rare and brilliant Sunday-night viewing", while Paul Whitelaw of ''

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until August 2004. Its pare ...

'' considered ''Southcliffe'' to be "a major work, and quite easily the best British TV drama of the year so far." The sentiment was shared by Euan Ferguson of ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...

'', who called it "the TV event of the year." Sam Wollaston of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'' thought that the drama series was a masterly study of a tragedy in smalltown England, one that "felt – and looked, and sounded – so utterly and terribly real", and that it was a "profound, chilling, moving piece of television". Serena Davies of ''The Daily Telegraph'', however, voiced a contrary opinion and wondered if the level of violence in this show as well as other TV dramas was really necessary.

Episodes

Awards and nominations

The drama series received the most nominations at the

2014 British Academy Television Awards The 60th British Academy Television Awards nominations were announced on 7 April 2014. The awards ceremony sponsored by Arqiva was held on 18 May 2014 at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London. Winners and nominations Winners are listed ...

together with ''

The IT Crowd ''The IT Crowd'' is a British sitcom originally broadcast by Channel 4, written and directed by Graham Linehan, produced by Ash Atalla and starring Chris O'Dowd, Richard Ayoade, Katherine Parkinson, and Matt Berry. Set in the offices of the f ...

'', with four nominations each.

References

External links

* – official site * * {{epguides, Southcliffe, Southcliffe 2010s British drama television series 2013 British television series debuts 2013 British television series endings Television series set in 2011 2010s British crime television series 2010s British television miniseries British thriller television series Channel 4 television dramas English-language television shows Television shows set in Kent Television shows shot in Kent