The BBC and Amazon Studios have released first-look images from the upcoming series The Outlaws (previously titled “The Offenders”), from multi-award-winning writer and director Stephen Merchant.
The images feature Academy Award-winning actor Christopher Walken in his first lead British television role, alongside Stephen Merchant (The Office, Jojo Rabbit).
The cast also includes Rhianne Barreto (Honour, Hanna), Gamba Cole (Soon Gone: A Windrush Chronicle, Hanna), Darren Boyd (Killing Eve), Clare Perkins (EastEnders), Eleanor Tomlinson (Poldark), Jessica Gunning (Back) and Charles Babalola (Bancroft).
The Outlaws follows seven strangers from different walks of life forced together to complete a Community Payback sentence in Bristol. At first, they seem like archetypes we can easily pigeonhole, but gradually we see behind their façades, understand their hidden depths, and what made them the people they are today.
We are reminded that no one is all good or all bad. Everyone has a story. As their unlikely new friendships intersect with their complicated private lives, The Outlaws must unite to protect one of their own from Bristol’s most dangerous criminal gang.
The show is part crime thriller, and part character study – with humor and heart.
The series is a co-production between the BBC and Amazon Studios, and is produced by Big Talk with Stephen Merchant’s Four Eyes. Big Talk is part of ITV Studios. Global distribution is handled by BBC Studios.
The new six-part series will air this fall on BBC One and BBC iPlayer in the UK, and then later on Amazon Prime Video in the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Nordic countries.
The series is a co-production between BBC One and Amazon Studios. The series was commissioned by BBC Comedy and BBC One, produced by Big Talk (Mum, Friday Night Dinner, Defending the Guilty) with Stephen Merchant’s Four Eyes. Big Talk is part of ITV Studios.
The series is created by Stephen Merchant and Elgin James. Executive Producers are Stephen Merchant for Four Eyes, Luke Alkin Kenton Allen and Matthew Justice for Big Talk, and Kate Daughton is the Commissioning Editor for the BBC.
The directors are Stephen Merchant and John Butler (Papi Chulo). The producer is Nickie Sault (The Virtues, World on Fire). The US, Canada, and Australia deal with Amazon was brokered by BBC Studios who are also handling global distribution.
THE OUTLAWS CHARACTERS:
Rhianne Barreto (Honour, Hanna) plays Rani, a gifted but rebellious maths student who has been hot-housed from a young age by her loving but controlling parents.
Gamba Cole (Soon Gone: A Windrush Chronicle) plays Christian, a young man struggling to raise his kid sister while staying one step ahead of the Brook Hill Crew, a notorious Bristol crime gang.
Christopher Walken plays Frank, an inveterate scoundrel trying to reconnect with his family.
Stephen Merchant (The Office, Jojo Rabbit) plays Greg, a lonely lawyer coping with divorce, work-place bullying and scary men with knives.
Darren Boyd (Killing Eve, Lucky Man) plays John, a businessman and law-abiding pillar of the community furious at being labelled a criminal.
Clare Perkins (EastEnders) plays Myrna, an ageing activist and campaigner who has lost none of her youthful radicalism.
Eleanor Tomlinson (Poldark, War of the Worlds) plays Gabby, an aristocratic celebutante whose glamour and life of leisure masks deep-rooted problems.
