Messiah (TV series)
Encyclopedia
Messiah is a British television
drama series, broadcast on the BBC One
network and produced in-house by BBC Northern Ireland
, although the series itself is set in England
. Made up of a series of occasional serial
s, the first, with two parts subtitled The First Killings & The Reckoning, was broadcast in 2001. It has been followed by Messiah 2: Vengeance is Mine (2003), Messiah III: The Promise (2004), Messiah IV: The Harrowing (2005) and most recently Messiah V: The Rapture (2008). The original production was based on a novel
by Boris Starling
: the subsequent installments have been written directly for television. Starling has a cameo as a murder victim's corpse in the first serial.
A crime series, it follows the investigations of DCI Red Metcalfe, who often investigates particularly gruesome murders. Metcalfe is played by Scottish
actor Ken Stott
, and the other main regulars in the series are Kate Beauchamp (Frances Grey
), Duncan Warren (Neil Dudgeon
) and Metcalfe's wife Susan (Michelle Forbes
). The deafness of Forbes' character necessitated both her and Stott learning British Sign Language
for their characters' frequent exchanges.
Messiah II: Vengeance Is Mine, deals with a serial killer who murders all those implicated in the wrongful imprisonment of his or her father.
Messiah III: The Promise, begins with a prison riot, in which Kate Beauchamp is held hostage and almost killed. The action moves on to a hospital where those injured in the riot are being treated. From then on, everyone who threatened or harmed Beauchamp ends up dead.
Messiah IV: The Harrowing, deals with Metcalf and his team having to catch a killer who murders his or her victims in elaborate / strange ways. The killings are based on The Divine Comedy
by Dante
.
Messiah V: The Rapture
, Marc Warren
is the new lead, starring as DCI Joseph Walker. The two-parter, which aired in January 2008, featured a crack den massacre, an acid attack, and a murder victim with her heart cut out. Also two sisters are hanged wearing men’s clothes.
, traditionally the time when Judas Iscariot
(who Jez likens Red to) hanged himself. Red manages to haul Jez over the banister, and they both crash to the floor. With Jez injured, Red strips him and crucifies him across a doorway, in an act of poetic justice (if Jez thought he was Christ, then he should die like him). In the TV adaptation, Jez is about to hang Red in Red's staircase, but just about to, he is interrupted by Red's deaf wife, starting to fight against Jez who falls down the staircase together with Red. Red survives paradoxically because of the rope around his neck which he manages to grab, while Jez (ironically) gets no grip and falls to his death, shaped like a cross. In the book adaptation, after having killed Jez, Red hands himself in to the police, with DS Beauchamp and is sent to prison. Though bleaker, this ending correlates with the tone of Starling's book. By the end, Red's marriage to Susan (who, in the book, is not deaf) has collapsed and the case has driven him to near madness.
's Fortune plango vulnera and his O Fortuna for Messiah III (they are the first two pieces of Orff's Carmina Burana
). For the Messiah IV trails, they used Agnus Dei, by Samuel Barber
.
Messiah 2 was originally scheduled for 24 and 25 August 2002, but was pulled at the last moment because of the Soham Murders
. It was eventually shown in 2003.
Messiah 3 was shown on 30 and 31 August 2004.
Messiah IV was split into three episodes (the others had been shown in two), starting on 28 August 2005.
Messiah V was shown in two parts on 20 and 21 January 2008.
British television
Public television broadcasting started in the United Kingdom in 1936, and now has a collection of free and subscription services over a variety of distribution media, through which there are over 480 channelsTaking the base Sky EPG TV Channels. A breakdown is impossible due to a) the number of...
drama series, broadcast on the BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
network and produced in-house by BBC Northern Ireland
BBC Northern Ireland
BBC Northern Ireland is the main public service broadcaster in Northern Ireland.The organisation is one of the three national regions of the BBC, together with BBC Scotland and BBC Wales. Based at Broadcasting House, Belfast, it provides television, radio, online and interactive television content...
, although the series itself is set in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. Made up of a series of occasional serial
Serial (radio and television)
Serials are series of television programs and radio programs that rely on a continuing plot that unfolds in a sequential episode by episode fashion. Serials typically follow main story arcs that span entire television seasons or even the full run of the series, which distinguishes them from...
s, the first, with two parts subtitled The First Killings & The Reckoning, was broadcast in 2001. It has been followed by Messiah 2: Vengeance is Mine (2003), Messiah III: The Promise (2004), Messiah IV: The Harrowing (2005) and most recently Messiah V: The Rapture (2008). The original production was based on a novel
Messiah (novel)
For the novel by Gore Vidal, see Messiah Messiah is a thriller novel by British writer Boris Starling, published in 1999. Following the success of the novel, a sequel, Storm , was also released....
by Boris Starling
Boris Starling
Boris Starling is a British novelist and screenwriter. He was educated at Eton College and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated with a first in History.-Life:Starling is the great-grandson of the English physiologist Ernest Starling...
: the subsequent installments have been written directly for television. Starling has a cameo as a murder victim's corpse in the first serial.
A crime series, it follows the investigations of DCI Red Metcalfe, who often investigates particularly gruesome murders. Metcalfe is played by Scottish
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
actor Ken Stott
Ken Stott
Kenneth Campbell "Ken" Stott is a Scottish actor, particularly known in the United Kingdom for his many roles in television.-Early life:...
, and the other main regulars in the series are Kate Beauchamp (Frances Grey
Frances Grey (actress)
Frances Grey is a Scottish actress, perhaps most famous for her portrayal of D.S. Kate Beauchamp in the BBC television series Messiah...
), Duncan Warren (Neil Dudgeon
Neil Dudgeon
Neil Dudgeon is a British actor best known for his many television appearances, most often in crime drama.-Early Life:Dudgeon was born 1 January 1961 in Doncaster, Yorkshire, and attended Danum Grammar School among others. He established himself as an actor in school plays and went on to study...
) and Metcalfe's wife Susan (Michelle Forbes
Michelle Forbes
Michelle Renee Forbes Guajardo , known professionally as Michelle Forbes, is an American actress who has built a career of work in television and independent film and has acted in productions in both the United States and in the United Kingdom...
). The deafness of Forbes' character necessitated both her and Stott learning British Sign Language
British Sign Language
British Sign Language is the sign language used in the United Kingdom , and is the first or preferred language of some deaf people in the UK; there are 125,000 deaf adults in the UK who use BSL plus an estimated 20,000 children. The language makes use of space and involves movement of the hands,...
for their characters' frequent exchanges.
The series
Messiah, strictly speaking, relates only to the original series, where a serial killer sets out to kill twelve (actually eleven) men with the same names as the Apostles, in the same way that the original Apostles were killed according to tradition, e.g. St Bartholomew being flayed alive and St Peter crucified head down. The killer does this because he believes himself to be immortal, a second Messiah.Messiah II: Vengeance Is Mine, deals with a serial killer who murders all those implicated in the wrongful imprisonment of his or her father.
Messiah III: The Promise, begins with a prison riot, in which Kate Beauchamp is held hostage and almost killed. The action moves on to a hospital where those injured in the riot are being treated. From then on, everyone who threatened or harmed Beauchamp ends up dead.
Messiah IV: The Harrowing, deals with Metcalf and his team having to catch a killer who murders his or her victims in elaborate / strange ways. The killings are based on The Divine Comedy
The Divine Comedy
The Divine Comedy is an epic poem written by Dante Alighieri between 1308 and his death in 1321. It is widely considered the preeminent work of Italian literature, and is seen as one of the greatest works of world literature...
by Dante
DANTE
Delivery of Advanced Network Technology to Europe is a not-for-profit organisation that plans, builds and operates the international networks that interconnect the various national research and education networks in Europe and surrounding regions...
.
Messiah V: The Rapture
Messiah V: The Rapture
Messiah V: The Rapture is the fifth installment of the BBC serial crime drama Messiah. This serial introduced Marc Warren as DCI Joseph Walker in the lead role, taking over from Ken Stott's character Red Metcalfe....
, Marc Warren
Marc Warren
Marc Warren is an English actor, known for his British television roles as Danny Blue in Hustle, Dougie Raymond in The Vice and Dominic Foy in State of Play.-Career:...
is the new lead, starring as DCI Joseph Walker. The two-parter, which aired in January 2008, featured a crack den massacre, an acid attack, and a murder victim with her heart cut out. Also two sisters are hanged wearing men’s clothes.
Cast overview
| Character | Actor |
|---|---|
| Eric Metcalfe | Kieran O'Brien Kieran O'Brien Kieran O'Brien is an English actor.-Biography:O'Brien, who grew up in nearby Royton, began acting at a early age and was the star of a BBC TV series Gruey by the time he was 15. He also featured in several other series at the time in one-off or recurring roles... |
| Charlotte | Juliet Diamond |
| D.C.I. Redfern 'Red' Metcalfe | Ken Stott Ken Stott Kenneth Campbell "Ken" Stott is a Scottish actor, particularly known in the United Kingdom for his many roles in television.-Early life:... |
| DCI Joseph Walker | Marc Warren Marc Warren Marc Warren is an English actor, known for his British television roles as Danny Blue in Hustle, Dougie Raymond in The Vice and Dominic Foy in State of Play.-Career:... |
| Philip Blake | Tony Lucken |
| D.S. Kate Beauchamp | Frances Grey Frances Grey (actress) Frances Grey is a Scottish actress, perhaps most famous for her portrayal of D.S. Kate Beauchamp in the BBC television series Messiah... |
| Alison Reeves | Serena Gordon Serena Gordon Serena Gordon is an English actress. She is probably best known for playing the role of Superintendent Amanda Prosser in the long running ITV drama The Bill.... |
| D.S. Jez Clifton | Jamie Draven Jamie Draven Jamie Draven is an English actor whose career in films and television began in 1998. One of his early notable parts was as Billy's elder brother, Tony, in the hit 2000 film Billy Elliot and as Jamie Dow in Ultimate Force.A native of the southern Manchester district of Wythenshawe, he is the... |
| D.C. Freeman | Howard Crossley |
| D.C. Nixon | Raymond Trickitt Ray Trickett -Filmography:ACTOR* Memories of Tomorrow : Roger* The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers : BeregTV* The Insiders Guide to Love : Tom* Power Rangers: SPD : Shorty * Mercy Peak : Eddie Wilson... |
| Bishop James Perch | Ernie Cooke |
| D.I. Duncan Warren | Neil Dudgeon Neil Dudgeon Neil Dudgeon is a British actor best known for his many television appearances, most often in crime drama.-Early Life:Dudgeon was born 1 January 1961 in Doncaster, Yorkshire, and attended Danum Grammar School among others. He established himself as an actor in school plays and went on to study... |
| D.C.S. Emerson | Art Malik Art Malik Art Malik is a Pakistani-born British actor who achieved international fame in the 1980s through his starring and subsidiary roles in assorted British and Merchant-Ivory television serials and films... |
| Susan Metcalfe | Michelle Forbes Michelle Forbes Michelle Renee Forbes Guajardo , known professionally as Michelle Forbes, is an American actress who has built a career of work in television and independent film and has acted in productions in both the United States and in the United Kingdom... |
| Artist in Gallery | Piers Houlin |
Alternate ending
In Boris Starling's novel, just as in the TV adaptation, Red is attacked by Jez in his flat. However, in the book there are some differences to the TV series. The final action in the novel takes place at EasterEaster
Easter is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday...
, traditionally the time when Judas Iscariot
Judas Iscariot
Judas Iscariot was, according to the New Testament, one of the twelve disciples of Jesus. He is best known for his betrayal of Jesus to the hands of the chief priests for 30 pieces of silver.-Etymology:...
(who Jez likens Red to) hanged himself. Red manages to haul Jez over the banister, and they both crash to the floor. With Jez injured, Red strips him and crucifies him across a doorway, in an act of poetic justice (if Jez thought he was Christ, then he should die like him). In the TV adaptation, Jez is about to hang Red in Red's staircase, but just about to, he is interrupted by Red's deaf wife, starting to fight against Jez who falls down the staircase together with Red. Red survives paradoxically because of the rope around his neck which he manages to grab, while Jez (ironically) gets no grip and falls to his death, shaped like a cross. In the book adaptation, after having killed Jez, Red hands himself in to the police, with DS Beauchamp and is sent to prison. Though bleaker, this ending correlates with the tone of Starling's book. By the end, Red's marriage to Susan (who, in the book, is not deaf) has collapsed and the case has driven him to near madness.
Writers
The first Messiah TV was scripted by Boris Starling and Lizzie Mickery. Mickery wrote Messiah 2 and 3 on her own, and Messiah IV was written by Terry Cafolla.Trailers
The Messiah series have typically used famous pieces of classical music on their trailers. For Messiah 2, they used Carl OrffCarl Orff
Carl Orff was a 20th-century German composer, best known for his cantata Carmina Burana . In addition to his career as a composer, Orff developed an influential method of music education for children.-Early life:...
's Fortune plango vulnera and his O Fortuna for Messiah III (they are the first two pieces of Orff's Carmina Burana
Carmina Burana (Orff)
Carmina Burana is a scenic cantata composed by Carl Orff in 1935 and 1936. It is based on 24 of the poems found in the medieval collection Carmina Burana...
). For the Messiah IV trails, they used Agnus Dei, by Samuel Barber
Samuel Barber
Samuel Osborne Barber II was an American composer of orchestral, opera, choral, and piano music. His Adagio for Strings is his most popular composition and widely considered a masterpiece of modern classical music...
.
Broadcast dates
Messiah was first broadcast over a Bank Holiday weekend (starting 26 May) 2001.Messiah 2 was originally scheduled for 24 and 25 August 2002, but was pulled at the last moment because of the Soham Murders
Soham murders
The Soham murders was an English murder case in 2002 of two 10-year-old girls in the village of Soham, Cambridgeshire.The victims were Holly Marie Wells and Jessica Aimee Chapman...
. It was eventually shown in 2003.
Messiah 3 was shown on 30 and 31 August 2004.
Messiah IV was split into three episodes (the others had been shown in two), starting on 28 August 2005.
Messiah V was shown in two parts on 20 and 21 January 2008.
External links
- Messiah at bbc.co.ukBbc.co.ukBBC Online is the brand name and home for the BBC's UK online service. It is a large network of websites including such high profile sites as BBC News and Sport, the on-demand video and radio services co-branded BBC iPlayer, the pre-school site Cbeebies, and learning services such as Bitesize...
- Neil Dudgeon website