''Babylon'' is a British

comedy-drama Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...

television series co-created by

Danny Boyle Daniel Francis Boyle (born 20 October 1956) is an English director and producer. He is known for his work on the films ''Shallow Grave (1994 film), Shallow Grave'' (1994), ''Trainspotting (film), Trainspotting'' (1996) and its sequel ''T2 Tra ...

, Robert Jones,

Jesse Armstrong Jesse David Armstrong (born 13 December 1970) is a British screenwriter and producer. Known for writing for a string of several critically acclaimed British comedy series as well as satirical dramas, he has received numerous accolades includin ...

and Sam Bain for

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

, and produced by Nightjack Ltd. The series is set in London, and follows various characters working for the Metropolitan Police Service,

police officer A police officer (also called policeman or policewoman, cop, officer or constable) is a Warrant (law), warranted law employee of a police, police force. In most countries, ''police officer'' is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. ...

s on the streets, who are responding to incidents, as well as the top management and PR department at

New Scotland Yard Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's London boroughs, 32 boroughs. Its name derives from the location of the original ...

, who try to counter any backlash from such incidents.

Plot

The series follows the new Director of Communications, the American Liz Garvey (

Brit Marling Brit Marling (born August 7, 1982) is an American actress and screenwriter. She rose to prominence after starring in several films that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, including '' Sound of My Voice'' (2011), '' Another Earth'' (2011), a ...

), who has been headhunted by the Police Commissioner Richard Miller (

James Nesbitt William James Nesbitt (born 15 January 1965) is an actor from Northern Ireland. From 1987, Nesbitt spent seven years performing in plays that varied from the musical '' Up on the Roof'' (1987, 1989) to the political drama ''Paddywack'' (1994). ...

) to drag the force into the new media age, and her conflicts with her own department and legal bureaucracy. This is intercut with the happenings within a team in the

Territorial Support Group The Territorial Support Group (TSG) is a Met Operations unit of London's Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) which focuses on public order policing and other specialist areas. In 2012 it consisted of 793 officers and 29 support staff. The TSG ...

and a team of authorised firearms officers in the

Specialist Firearms Command The Specialist Firearms Command (MO19) is the firearms unit of the Metropolitan Police Service. Formed in 2005 but with antecedents dating back to 1966, the Command is responsible for providing a firearms-response capability, assisting the res ...

Cast

as Liz Garvey,

Director of Communications Director of communications is a position in both the private and public sectors. A director of communications is responsible for managing and directing an organization's internal and external communications. Directors of communications supervis ...

as Sir Richard Miller,

Commissioner A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to incl ...

Bertie Carvel Robert Hugh Carvel (born 6 September 1977) is a British film and theatre actor. He has twice won a Laurence Olivier Award: for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical for his role as Miss Trunchbull in '' Matilda the Musical'', and for Best ...

as Finn Kirkwood, Communications Deputy * Ella Smith as Mia Conroy, Communications staff member *

Paterson Joseph Paterson Davis Joseph (born 22 June 1964) is a British actor and author. Joseph appeared in the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) productions of ''King Lear'' and ''Love's Labour's Lost'' in 1990. On television he is best known for his roles in '' ...

as Charles Inglis, Assistant Commissioner, later

Jonny Sweet Jonathan Huw Sweet (born 1985) is a British comedian and the recipient of the 2009 Edinburgh Comedy Award for best newcomer. Early life Sweet was born in Nottingham and educated at the local independent school Nottingham High School. He read ...

as Tom Oliver, Superintendent and

Personal Aide A personal assistant, also referred to as personal aide (PA) or personal secretary (PS), is a job title describing a person who assists a specific person with their daily business or personal task. It is a subspecialty of secretarial duties. ...

to the Commissioner *

Nicola Walker Nicola Jane Walker (born 15 May 1970) is an English actress, known for her starring roles in various British television programmes from the 1990s onwards, including that of Ruth Evershed in the spy drama '' Spooks'' (2003–2006 and 2009–201 ...

as Sharon Franklin, Assistant Commissioner *

Jill Halfpenny Jill Halfpenny (born 15 July 1975) is an English actress who first garnered attention playing Nicola Dobson in the coming-of-age BBC drama series '' Byker Grove'' (1989–1992). She became more widely known for her roles as Rebecca Hopkins on ...

as PC Davina Bancroft, TSG officer, married to SCO19 officer Banjo *

Cavan Clerkin Cavan Clerkin (born 1973) is a British actor and filmmaker from Hackney, London. He is known for ''The Capture'' (2019-2022), '' The Last Kingdom'' (2017-2022), ''Muscle'' (2019) and BAFTA nominated comedy '' Pulling'' (2006). He wrote, produce ...

as PC Damien "Clarkey" Clarke, TSG officer *

Owain Arthur Owain Arthur (born 5 March 1983) is a Welsh actor, who rose to fame playing Francis Henshall in The National Theatre's production of '' One Man, Two Guvnors'' at the Theatre Royal Haymarket. His early years were spent in Bangor, Wales, filmi ...

as PC Paul "Nobbo" Norrington, TSG officer *

Adam Deacon Adam Steven Deacon (born 4 March 1983) is an English actor. He is known for his lead role in the films '' Kidulthood'', sequel ''Adulthood'', and for his directorial debut, '' Anuvahood''. Career Deacon was brought up by his English mother in S ...

as PC Robbie Vas, TSG officer who moves over to SCO19 * Andrew Brooke as PC Neil "Banjo" Bancroft, SCO19 officer, married to TSG officer Davina * Stuart Martin as PC Tony Forbes, SCO19 officer *

Nick Blood Nick Blood (born 20 March 1982) is an English actor. He is known for his roles as Kieran in '' Trollied'' (2011-2013), Lance Hunter in '' Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'' (2014-2017), and as Vincent Pyne in '' The Day of the Jackal'' (2024). Early li ...

as PC Warwick Collister, SCO19 officer *

Daniel Kaluuya Daniel Kaluuya (; born 24 February 1989) is an English actor. His work encompasses both screen and stage, and List of awards and nominations received by Daniel Kaluuya, his accolades include an Academy Awards, Academy Award, two British Academy ...

as Matt Coward, documentary film maker *

Ralph Brown Ralph William John Brown (born 18 June 1957) is an English actor and writer, known for playing Danny the drug dealer in '' Withnail and I'', the security guard Aaron (a.k.a. "85") in ''Alien 3'', DJ Bob Silver in '' The Boat That Rocked'' aka ...

as Grant Delgado,

Deputy Mayor of London A Deputy Mayor is a member of the London Mayoral cabinet, in the executive arm of the Greater London Authority. They serve as political advisors with responsibilities and powers corresponding to portfolios delegated by the Mayor. One of them mu ...

Production

Channel 4 originally announced that ''Babylon'' had been commissioned for Autumn 2014 on 23 December 2013. They further announced the six-part series had begun filming, in

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

and

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

on 17 April 2014. Danny Boyle directed the pilot episode, while Jon S. Baird directed the first three episodes of Series 1 with Sally El Hosaini directing the last three. Episode two was partly filmed at the Metropolitan Police Training Ground in

Gravesend Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, situated 21 miles (35 km) east-southeast of Charing Cross (central London) on the Bank (geography), south bank of the River Thames, opposite Tilbury in Essex. Located in the diocese of Roche ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

and features in the scenes where Robbie (Adam Deacon) trains at the firing range. Episode six, the series finale, recreated the London Riots of 2011. In a 2015 interview with ''

Radio Times ''Radio Times'' is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in September 1923 by John Reith, then general manage ...

'' magazine, Sam Bain stated that it was unlikely ''Babylon'' would return for a further series, with Jesse Armstrong explaining that "getting everyone back together seemed like it would be extraordinarily complicated, so we haven't pursued it".

Episodes

Pilot (2014)

Series 1 (2014)

Reception

Review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

gave the show a 75% "fresh" rating with an average rating of 7.2/10 based on 16 reviews. The critical consensus states: "Babylon successfully combines two genres into one show, adding great actors and timely subject matter to stealthy wit and hard-hitting drama."

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 67 out of 100, based on 14 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

International broadcast

''Babylon'' premiered on

SundanceTV Sundance TV (formerly known as Sundance Channel) is an American pay television channel owned by AMC Networks that launched on February 1, 1996. The channel is named after Robert Redford's character in ''Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid'' and, w ...

in the United States on 8 January 2015. In Australia, the series premiered on 28 September 2015 on

BBC First BBC First is an entertainment subscription television channel featuring comedy, crime, drama and film programming, originating from UK and mostly from the BBC. The channel is wholly owned and operated by BBC Studios. The channel began rolling ...

References

External links

* {{Danny Boyle Channel 4 television dramas Channel 4 miniseries 2014 British television series debuts 2014 British television series endings 2010s British television miniseries British English-language television shows Serial drama television series Television series by All3Media