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

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 ...

. Set in a fictional town on the

North Kent Marshes The North Kent Marshes are in the far north of the county of Kent spanning dry and wet south banks and inlets of the Thames Estuary in south-east England. The marshes are one of 22 environmentally sensitive areas recognised by the UK's Departme ...

, it employs a

nonlinear narrative Nonlinear narrative, disjointed narrative, or disrupted narrative is a narrative technique where events are portrayed, for example, out of chronological order or in other ways where the narrative does not follow the direct causality pattern of the ...

structure to tell the story of a series of shootings by a local man portrayed by

Sean Harris Sean Harris (born 1 June 1966) is an English actor. He played Ian Curtis in '' 24 Hour Party People'' (2002), Micheletto Corella in '' The Borgias'' (2011–2013), Fifield in ''Prometheus'' (2012), Solomon Lane in '' Mission: Impossible – R ...

, 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 Sittingbourne, 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 road (Great ...

in North

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 was screened in the Special Presentation section at the

2013 Toronto International Film Festival The 38th annual Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) took place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada between September 5 and 15, 2013. ''The Fifth Estate (film), The Fifth Estate'' was selected as the opening film and ''Life of Crime (film), Life o ...

Cast

Rory Kinnear Rory Michael Kinnear (born 17 February 1978) is an English actor. He won two Olivier Awards, both at the National Theatre, in 2008 for his portrayal of Sir Fopling Flutter in ''The Man of Mode'', and for playing the William Shakespeare villain ...

– David Whitehead *

– 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 n ...

– Claire Salter *

Anatol Yusef Anatol Yusef is an English film, television and stage actor, writer, director. He was born in London and is best known for his work at The Royal Shakespeare Company, for his portrayal of Meyer Lansky in the television series ''Boardwalk Empir ...

– 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). Early life and ...

– Andrew Salter *

Joe Dempsie Joe Dempsie (born ) 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 earlier acting credits i ...

– Chris Cooper *

Nichola Burley Nichola Burley is an English actress. She has appeared in ''Born Equal'', '' Drop Dead Gorgeous'', ''Goldplated'', ''Death Comes to Pemberley (TV series), Death Comes to Pemberley'', ''Donkey Punch (2008 film), Donkey Punch'' and ''StreetDance ...

- Sarah Gould * Geoff Bell – Alan *

Coral Amiga Coral Amiga is an English actress and screenwriter born in London. She is best known for her portrayal of Vorena the Elder, in the television series ''Rome''. After attending The American School in London, she went on to receive a bachelor's deg ...

- Mattie *

Kaya Scodelario Kaya Rose Scodelario-Humphrey (née Humphrey; born 13 March 1992) is a British actress. She first came to prominence co-starring on E4's '' Skins'' (2007–2010, 2013), receiving two Golden Nymph nominations for her portrayal of Effy Stonem. ...

– 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 ...

and produced by

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

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

Sean Durkin Timothy Sean Durkin (born December 9, 1981) is a Canadian-American film director, screenwriter, and producer. Durkin is known for directing the critically acclaimed independent films ''Martha Marcy May Marlene'' (2011), ''The Nest (2020 film), Th ...

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 rura ...

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 Oare Marshes is a Local Nature Reserve north of Faversham in Kent. It is owned and managed by Kent Wildlife Trust. It is part of The Swale Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I, National Nature Reserve, Ramsar internationally important w ...

, Uplees Cottage, as well as other locations in Kent such as

Whitstable Whitstable () is a town on the north coast of Kent, England, at the convergence of the The Swale, Swale and the Greater Thames Estuary, north of Canterbury and west of Herne Bay, Kent, Herne Bay. The town, formerly known as Whitstable-on-Se ...

, East Kent Railway,

Grain Power Station Grain Power Station is a operational CCGT power station in Kent, England, owned by Uniper (formerly E.ON UK). It was also the name of an oil-fired, now demolished, 1,320MW power station in operation from 1979 to 2012. Oil-fired power statio ...

, Teynham Court Farm,

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

Hospital,

Sittingbourne Sittingbourne is an industrial town in the Swale district of Kent, southeast England, from Canterbury and from London, beside the Roman Watling Street, an ancient trackway used by the Romans and the Anglo-Saxons. The town stands next to th ...

Police Station,

Sittingbourne Community College The Sittingbourne School is a secondary school and sixth form with academy status located in Sittingbourne, Kent, with around 1600 students. This school was previously called "The Sittingbourne Community College". The school is part of the Sw ...

, 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 British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'' 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 publis ...

'' 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), 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 ...

'' 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. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...

'', 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 Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' 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 television sitcom originally broadcast by Channel 4, created, written, and directed by Graham Linehan, produced by Ash Atalla and starring Chris O'Dowd, Richard Ayoade, Katherine Parkinson, and Matt Berry. Set in th ...

'', 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 created by Tony Grisoni Television series set in 2011 2010s British crime television series 2010s British television miniseries British thriller television series Channel 4 television dramas British English-language television shows Television shows set in Kent Television shows shot in Kent