''Legacy'' is a British thriller

television film A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie, telefilm, telemovie or TV film/movie, is a film with a running time similar to a feature film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a Terrestr ...

that broadcast on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...

on 28 November 2013. It is an adaptation of Alan Judd's 2001 spy novel of the same name.

Plot

Charles Thoroughgood (

Charlie Cox Charlie Thomas Cox (born 15 December 1982) is an English-American actor. He is best-known for portraying Matt Murdock / Daredevil in seven projects of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, leading the television series '' Daredevil'' (2015–2018) a ...

), a young spy, discovers the truth about his father's past. After leaving the army, he starts training at the

Secret Intelligence Service The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 (MI numbers, Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of Human i ...

when Viktor Koslov ( Andrew Scott), a Soviet diplomat, gets him on a case. Charles' bosses want to exploit Viktor. When Charles makes contact with him, Viktor tells him information that he does not want to believe. Charles is also in a relationship with the wife of another agent.

Cast

as Charles Thoroughood, a young spy *

Romola Garai Romola Sadie Garai ( ; born 6 August 1982) is a Hong Kong-born British actress and film director. Known for her extensive work on stage and screen, she often acts in period films. Her early film roles include '' Nicholas Nickleby'' (2002), '' ...

as Anna March *

Simon Russell Beale Sir Simon Russell Beale (born 12 January 1961) is an English actor. He has been described by ''The Independent'' as "the greatest stage actor of his generation". He has received various accolades, including two BAFTA Awards, three Olivier Awar ...

as Hookey *

Geraldine James Geraldine James (born 6 July 1950) is an English actress. She has worked extensively on television, on stage and in film. She is known for her role as Marilla Cuthbert in the Netflix series ''Anne with an E'' (2017–2019) and as Queen Mary in ...

as Martha *

Christian McKay Christian Stuart McKay (born 30 December 1973) is an English stage and screen actor. He is perhaps best known for his portrayal of Orson Welles in the 2008 film '' Me and Orson Welles'', for which he was nominated for over two dozen awards includ ...

as Hugo March * Olivia Grant as Eva Pym *

Richard McCabe Richard McCabe (born William McCabe; 18 August 1960) is a Scottish actor who has specialised in classical theatre. He is an Associate Artist of the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC). Career McCabe is an Associate Artist of the Royal Shakespeare ...

as Gerry * Andrew Scott as Viktor Koslov, a Soviet diplomat *

Tessa Peake-Jones Tessa Peake-Jones (born 9 May 1957) is an English actress who has appeared in '' The Danedyke Mystery'' (1979), ''Pride and Prejudice'' (1980), ''When We Are Married'' (1987), '' Up the Garden Path'' (1990–1993), '' So Haunt Me'' (1992–1994) ...

as Joyce Thoroughgood * Robert Ashby as Annikov * Charlotte Randle as Emily * Barrie Martin as Protester *

Alec Utgoff Alec Utgoff (; born 1 March 1986) is a British actor known for his roles in various films and television series. Born in Kyiv, Ukraine, he moved to the UK at a young age. Utgoff pursued acting and graduated from the prestigious Drama Centre Lond ...

as Rhykov * Erick Hayden as

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

agent

Production

The screenplay was written by

Paula Milne Paula Milne is a British screenwriter. Her works include '' The Politician's Wife'', ''The Virgin Queen'', '' Chandler & Co'', '' Die Kinder'', ''Second Sight'', ''Driving Ambition'', ''Small Island'' and ''Endgame''. Her first single drama ...

and directed by

Pete Travis Pete Travis is a British television and film director. His work includes ''Cold Feet'' (1999), '' The Jury'' (2002) and ''Omagh'' (2004) for television and '' Vantage Point'' (2008), '' Endgame'' (2009), '' Dredd'' (2012) and '' City of Tiny Li ...

. Paula Milne said:

Legacy falls well within the genre of the British spy thriller but has an extraordinary personal twist. For what is espionage if not betrayal at the most fundamental level of human interactions? When that occurs within a family... It's dynamite!

The television film was commissioned by

Ben Stephenson Benjamin Stephenson is a television executive, formerly controller of drama at the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and currently Head of Television at Bad Robot in the United States. Education Stephenson attended The Hewett School in ...

, controller of drama commissioning for the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

, and

Janice Hadlow Janice Vivienne Hadlow (born November 1957 in Lewisham) is a former BBC television executive. She was the controller of the BBC television channel BBC Two, taking over this position in November 2008 having previously been controller of BBC Four. At ...

, controller of

. The executive producers are Crawford Collins, Paula Milne and Alan Judd for Slim Film + Television and Lucy Richer for the BBC. Rob Bullock is the producer and Rebecca Ferguson the script executive. The television film was commissioned as part of BBC Two's

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

season. The production filmed in

Deal, Kent Deal is a coastal town in Kent, England, which lies where the North Sea and the English Channel meet, north-east of Dover, England, Dover and south of Ramsgate. It is a former fishing, mining and garrison town whose history is closely linked t ...

, which doubled as a Suffolk village towards the end of the film where Charles follows Viktor. Deal Pier was also used for the scenes where Charles and Anna walk down the pier watching Viktor with his wife, who are being closely followed by the Russian KGB as well as the night scene where Charles and Viktor meet under the pier and discuss the KGB's plans to attack the Power Station.

Reception

Ratings

Overnight figures showed that ''Legacy'' was watched by 7.3% of the viewing audience, with 1.59 million viewers. Official figures raised the number of viewers to 1.85 million.

Critical reception

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 publis ...

'' journalist Gerard Gilbert said: "I guess I'm just not sure that I entirely saw the point of ''Legacy'' beyond the fact that the BBC had decided to have a season of programmes about the Cold War." Keith Watson of ''

Metro Metro may refer to: Geography * Metro City (Indonesia), a city in Indonesia * A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center Public transport * Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urban area with high ...

'' said that "despite great performances, ''Legacy'' got caught up in cloak-and-dagger cliché". ''

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

'' Gerard O'Donovan gave it three out of five stars and said he wished "the characters had been better drawn."

Grace Dent Grace Georgina Dent (born 3 October 1973) is a British columnist, broadcaster and author. She is a restaurant critic for ''The Guardian'' and from 2011 to 2017 wrote a restaurant column for the ''Evening Standard''. She is a regular critic on t ...

of ''The Independent'' found the film boring and said "everyone in this Cold War thriller was brilliant, but I still fell asleep".

References

External links

* * {{Pete Travis, state=collapsed British English-language television shows British television films 2013 television films 2013 films Films shot in England Films based on British novels Films directed by Pete Travis 2010s English-language films