Misfits (TV series)
Encyclopedia
Misfits is a British
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...

 science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 comedy-drama
Comedy-drama
Comedy-drama is a genre of theatre, film and television programs which combines humorous and serious content.-Theatre:Traditional western theatre, beginning with the ancient Greeks, was divided into comedy and tragedy...

 television series about a group of young offenders forced to work in a community service
Community service
Community service is donated service or activity that is performed by someone or a group of people for the benefit of the public or its institutions....

 programme, where they obtain supernatural powers
Superpower (ability)
Superpower is a popular culture term for a fictional superhuman ability. When a character possesses multiple such abilities, the terms super powers or simply powers are used...

 after a strange electrical storm
Thunderstorm
A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm, a lightning storm, thundershower or simply a storm is a form of weather characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere known as thunder. The meteorologically assigned cloud type associated with the...

. The first series started broadcasting on 12 November 2009 on E4, and was produced by Clerkenwell Films
Clerkenwell Films
Clerkenwell Films is an award-winning British film and television production company, which has produced several drama and comedy programmes for the BBC, the ITV network, Channel 4 and E4 in the United Kingdom. It was co-founded by the actor John Hannah and the producer Murray Ferguson...

. The show aired in Australia in 2010 on ABC2. In June 2011, it was made available online in the United States via Hulu
Hulu
Hulu is a website and over-the-top subscription service offering ad-supported on-demand streaming video of TV shows, movies, webisodes and other new media, trailers, clips, and behind-the-scenes footage from NBC, Fox, ABC, and Obstacle on October 20th 2011 Nickelodeon and CBS and many other...

, where it became one of the service's most-watched series.

Filming for the second series began on 24 May 2010, next to Southmere Lake, Thamesmead
Thamesmead
Thamesmead is a district of south-east London, England, located in the London Boroughs of Greenwich and Bexley. It is situated east of Charing Cross....

, Southeast London. The second series aired from 11 November 2010 to 16 December 2010 on E4. A third series was officially confirmed.
A Christmas special, written by Howard Overman
Howard Overman
Howard Overman is a television writer who has written scripts for serial dramas such as Hotel Babylon, New Tricks, Hustle, Harley Street and Merlin....

, featuring the whole main cast of the first series was broadcast on E4 in December 2010. The first series won the 2010 BAFTA Television Award
British Academy Television Awards
The British Academy Television Awards are presented in an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts . They have been awarded annually since 1954, and are analogous to the Emmy Awards in the United States.-Background:...

 for Best Drama Series.

On 10 April 2011, it was announced that actor Robert Sheehan would not be returning for the third series. A short entitled "Vegas Baby", released online in September 2011, covered the departure of Sheehan's character, Nathan. An extended trailer for the new third series was shown after the short. The third series started on 30 October 2011.

Premise

Misfits follows five early-20s delinquents on community service
Community service
Community service is donated service or activity that is performed by someone or a group of people for the benefit of the public or its institutions....

 in Wertham (a fictional borough
Borough
A borough is an administrative division in various countries. In principle, the term borough designates a self-governing township although, in practice, official use of the term varies widely....

 in London), who are caught outside during an electrical thunder storm and hail the size of bowling balls, and who acquire special powers
Superpower (ability)
Superpower is a popular culture term for a fictional superhuman ability. When a character possesses multiple such abilities, the terms super powers or simply powers are used...

. Kelly (Lauren Socha
Lauren Socha
Lauren Marie Socha is a BAFTA award winning English actress, best known for her starring role in the E4 comedy-drama television series Misfits and a co-starring role in the Channel 4 drama The Unloved. She attended St. George's RC Primary School, Burton College and Saint Benedict School and...

) gains the ability to hear the thoughts of others
Telepathy
Telepathy , is the induction of mental states from one mind to another. The term was coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Fredric W. H. Myers, a founder of the Society for Psychical Research, and has remained more popular than the more-correct expression thought-transference...

, Curtis (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett) can rewind time after experiencing an immense sense of regret, Alisha (Antonia Thomas
Antonia Thomas
Antonia-Rose Laura Thomas is an English actress best known for her starring role in the E4 comedy-drama television series Misfits as Alisha Bailey. She studied at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School where she studied for a BA in Acting, graduating in 2009.Antonia was a member of the National Youth...

) sends people into a sexual frenzy when they touch her skin, Simon (Iwan Rheon) can become invisible, and Nathan (Robert Sheehan) does not discover his power until the end of the first series.

Series One (2009)

In the first episode, the Misfits are attacked by their probation officer, Tony, who acquired strange evil powers in the electrical storm, and accidentally kill him in self defense. The main plot of the first series is the five trying to stop anyone else finding out about the murder. Tony's replacement Sally is revealed to be Tony's fiancee, and she suspects that the gang know more than they claim to. Sally's suspicion grows and she forms a relationship with Simon, secretly pretending to like him in order to get information from him about Tony's disappearance. She steals his mobile phone, which has the video of Nathan saying they killed Tony, sees it, and tries to convince Simon to go to the police. When she tries to get away, Simon turns invisible, freaks her out a little, and then accidentally kills her in the struggle for his mobile. Other sub-plots
Subplot
A subplot is a secondary plot strand that is a supporting side story for any story or the main plot. Subplots may connect to main plots, in either time and place or in thematic significance...

 of the series involve Nathan being made homeless after his mother kicks him out, beginning to live in the community center, Alisha and Curtis becoming involved in a relationship, Curtis accidentally changing time so he never split up from his ex-girlfriend Sam, and Simon's sense of loneliness and isolation from the rest of the group. There are also side-plots that only last for one episode, including the first series' finale in which a cult-like group begins to brainwash youths into adopting ultra-conservative behavior. The episode ends with Nathan's death after a struggle with the cult's leader. As his friends mourn, Nathan's power is finally revealed to be immortality in the final scene as he awakens unharmed in his coffin
Coffin
A coffin is a funerary box used in the display and containment of dead people – either for burial or cremation.Contemporary North American English makes a distinction between "coffin", which is generally understood to denote a funerary box having six sides in plan view, and "casket", which...

.

Series Two (2010)

In the second series, as the gang are approaching the end of their community service, they are stalked by a mysterious masked man who had previously saved Nathan from the Virtue cult. He assists them through dangerous situations and is seemingly aware of events that take place before they happen; he saves members of the group on multiple occasions such as saving Curtis from being strangled to death by a shapeshifter, saving Nathan from a car explosion when taking drugs makes him vulnerable to being killed, and saving Alisha from a mugger. When Alisha is attacked a second time, she falls down a flight of stairs and is taken back to the masked man's safe house. It is revealed that he is a time-travelling, future Simon, who Alisha falls in love with and learns she is to fall in love with the 'present' Simon. Future Simon both warns of an unspecified, upcoming crisis and shows that the superpowers will soon become public knowledge – which occurs in the sixth episode, only for that timeline to be erased. Throughout the series, sub-plots include Nathan discovering his immortality extends to mediumship
Mediumship
Mediumship is described as a form of communication with spirits. It is a practice in religious beliefs such as Spiritualism, Spiritism, Espiritismo, Candomblé, Voodoo and Umbanda.- Concept :...

, Nathan and Kelly's abortive attempt at a relationship, Curtis and Alisha breaking up, Simon slowly becoming more assertive and comfortable with himself, and Curtis starting a relationship with a girl named Nikki, who obtained her teleportation
Teleportation
Teleportation is the fictional or imagined process by which matter is instantaneously transferred from one place to another.Teleportation may also refer to:*Quantum teleportation, a method of transmitting quantum data...

 power from the heart transplant of a guy named Ollie, who originally had the power. Three months later, the Misfits give up their powers by selling them to a dealer with the ability to transfer powers from one person to another. Elliot, a disillusioned priest, purchases several powers from the same dealer including Alisha's and Nikki's, and uses them to pose as a reborn Jesus Christ. While the Misfits are celebrating the fact that they are free from their powers, a follower of "Jesus" holds up the bar where Curtis and Alisha are now working, robs them, and kills Nikki. The Misfits steal the money that the priest "Jesus" has gathered from his followers so they can purchase their powers back, accidentally killing him while doing so. The Misfits now have the option to buy any power they want, and the episode concludes with a flash of bright white light as Kelly is the first to undergo the process.

Series Three (2011)

Nathan has the ability to make slight alterations to reality, and heads to Las Vegas with Marnie and Nathan Jr. to use his power to cheat at dice in the casinos. He gets caught after using his power to roll a seven and four to get a winning eleven, not realising there is no number seven on a regular dice, and is put in prison. He is then allowed one phone call, and in desperation, he calls Simon. Back in England, the gang are still together spending time in Simon and Alisha's underground flat. Each has acquired new powers following the events of series 2; Simon can glimpse into the future, Kelly has complete knowledge of rocket science, Alisha has a form of Clairvoyance which allows her to see what other people are doing and Curtis can change his sex at will. They believe Nathan is still in Vegas with Marnie. Rudy meets the gang when one of his doubles upsets an unstable girl with the ability to 'freeze' people who attempts to set him up for murder. After helping him out they go for a drive only to discover Rudy has stolen a car thus putting them all back in community service. Rudy answers Simon's phone but as Nathan calls Simon "Barry", Rudy assumes he has the wrong number, telling Nathan there is no Barry. Rudy identifies himself as "the new guy." While in Community Service, Curtis notices that there is a female athletics course happening at the Community Centre. He uses his power to change into a girl called Melissa, and joins the athletics. He meets a girl there who he begins to fancy, but as the girl thinks Curtis is a girl, she assumes Melissa (Curtis as a woman) is a lesbian, and she has a relationship with both Curtis and Melissa. The girl finds Melissa's dress at Curtis's house, and assumes he is having an affair with her, and dumps both Curtis and Melissa. Curtis then reveals his true identity to her. Simon meets a boy, who has the power of fate alteration, making events occur by drawing comic strips of it before it happens. He is impressed when Simon, dressed as SuperHoodie, saves him from being mugged, and he wants Simon to become a full time superhero, but Simon is against this, so the boy, using his power, makes Simon break up with Alisha and beat up his friends. Alisha, Curtis, Kelly and Rudy find the comics and rip them up, bringing Simon back to his normal self. Simon gets back with Alisha, and the boy writes a comic to make Simon kill him. Alisha tells Simon to burn the body, along with the SuperHoodie costume, but the boy has previously drawn a comic that makes Simon keep the costume; and hide it from Alisha, leaving the reappearance of 'super hoodie' unknown.

Cast

Cast member Character Series Powers
Joseph Gilgun
Joseph Gilgun
Joseph William Gilgun is an English actor best known for playing Eli Dingle in ITV's Emmerdale, Woody in the film This Is England and Rudy Wade in series 3 of E4's Misfits.-Biography:...

 
Rudy Wade  3 - present Emotionally induced personality split (his self-loathing becomes manifest as another Rudy)
Iwan Rheon  Simon Bellamy
Simon Bellamy
Simon Bellamy is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 science fiction comedy-drama Misfits, portrayed by Iwan Rheon. His storylines have included being sentenced to community service for attempted arson which leads to him gaining the power of invisibility, reflective of his personality...

 
1 - present Invisibility
Invisibility
Invisibility is the state of an object that cannot be seen. An object in this state is said to be invisible . The term is usually used as a fantasy/science fiction term, where objects are literally made unseeable by magical or technological means; however, its effects can also be seen in the real...

 initially upon feeling ignored but later at will (series 1-2)
Precognition
Precognition
In parapsychology, precognition , also called future sight, and second sight, is a type of extrasensory perception that would involve the acquisition or effect of future information that cannot be deduced from presently available and normally acquired sense-based information or laws of physics...

 (series 3)
Robert Sheehan  Nathan Young
Nathan Young
Nathan Young is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 science fiction comedy-drama Misfits, portrayed by Robert Sheehan. He first appeared in Series 1 Episode 1 and departed in an online spinoff entitled Vegas Baby! after Sheehan quit the role. He serves as one of the main protagonists...

 
1 - 2 Immortality
Immortality
Immortality is the ability to live forever. It is unknown whether human physical immortality is an achievable condition. Biological forms have inherent limitations which may or may not be able to be overcome through medical interventions or engineering...

 and mediumship
Mediumship
Mediumship is described as a form of communication with spirits. It is a practice in religious beliefs such as Spiritualism, Spiritism, Espiritismo, Candomblé, Voodoo and Umbanda.- Concept :...

 (series 1-2)
Reality warping
Reality warping
Reality warping is a superpower in superhero fiction. It is the ability to reshape matter and energy, create or alter life forms, turn a person's thoughts or desires into reality, simulate any and all other powers and abilities, bend time and space, and possibly even rewrite the laws of physics.All...

 ("Vegas, Baby!")
Lauren Socha
Lauren Socha
Lauren Marie Socha is a BAFTA award winning English actress, best known for her starring role in the E4 comedy-drama television series Misfits and a co-starring role in the Channel 4 drama The Unloved. She attended St. George's RC Primary School, Burton College and Saint Benedict School and...

 
Kelly Bailey
Kelly Bailey (Misfits)
Kelly Bailey is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 science fiction comedy-drama Misfits, portrayed by Lauren Socha. Kelly first appears in episode 1 of Series 1. The character has been characterised as "chavvish" but with a "heart of gold"...

 
1 - present Telepathy
Telepathy
Telepathy , is the induction of mental states from one mind to another. The term was coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Fredric W. H. Myers, a founder of the Society for Psychical Research, and has remained more popular than the more-correct expression thought-transference...

 (series 1-2)
Genius-level knowledge of rocket science
Aerospace engineering
Aerospace engineering is the primary branch of engineering concerned with the design, construction and science of aircraft and spacecraft. It is divided into two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering...

 (series 3)
Nathan Stewart-Jarrett  Curtis Donovan
Curtis Donovan
Curtis Donovan is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 science fiction comedy-drama Misfits, portrayed by Nathan Stewart-Jarrett. His storylines include being sentenced to community service after being caught in possession of cocaine which led to him gaining the power of time...

 
1 - present Ability to rewind time
Time travel
Time travel is the concept of moving between different points in time in a manner analogous to moving between different points in space. Time travel could hypothetically involve moving backward in time to a moment earlier than the starting point, or forward to the future of that point without the...

 when feeling regret (series 1-2)
Ability to change gender (series 3)
Antonia Thomas
Antonia Thomas
Antonia-Rose Laura Thomas is an English actress best known for her starring role in the E4 comedy-drama television series Misfits as Alisha Bailey. She studied at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School where she studied for a BA in Acting, graduating in 2009.Antonia was a member of the National Youth...

 
Alisha Bailey
Alisha Bailey
Alisha Bailey is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 science fiction comedy-drama Misfits, portrayed by Antonia Thomas. Her storylines include gaining an ASBO for constant drink-driving which leads to her gaining the ability to make those who make bare contact with her skin go into a...

 
1 - present Induction of hypersexuality
Hypersexuality
Hypersexuality is extremely frequent or suddenly increased sexual urges or sexual activity. Hypersexuality is typically associated with lowered sexual inhibitions. Although hypersexuality can be caused by some medical conditions or medications, in most cases the cause is unknown...

 with skin contact (series 1-2)
Clairvoyance
Clairvoyance
The term clairvoyance is used to refer to the ability to gain information about an object, person, location or physical event through means other than the known human senses, a form of extra-sensory perception...

 (series 3)

Episodes

The first series comprised six episodes, airing from 12 November to 17 December 2009 on E4.

The second series started filming in May 2010 and aired on E4 from 11 November to 16 December 2010. This series had seven episodes, including a Christmas episode.

An exclusive short film, "Vegas Baby!", premiered on E4's official website on 15 September 2011, focusing on Nathan's departure. The third series began premiered on 30 October 2011 on E4. It includes new character Rudy (Joe Gilgun) and will be eight episodes long. Unlike the first two seasons, Howard Overman
Howard Overman
Howard Overman is a television writer who has written scripts for serial dramas such as Hotel Babylon, New Tricks, Hustle, Harley Street and Merlin....

 has not written all the episodes, instead bringing new writers on board.

Filming locations

The show is filmed in South East London
South East (London sub region)
The South East is a sub-region of the London Plan corresponding to the London Boroughs of Bexley, Bromley, Greenwich, Lewisham and Southwark. The sub region was established in 2008. The south east has a population of 1,300,000 and is the location of 500,000 jobs...

, mostly on location around the Southmere Lake in Thamesmead
Thamesmead
Thamesmead is a district of south-east London, England, located in the London Boroughs of Greenwich and Bexley. It is situated east of Charing Cross....

. Other exterior shots were filmed on the Heygate Estate
Heygate Estate
The Heygate Estate is a large housing estate located in Walworth, Southwark, south London. The estate is currently under demolition.Heygate is one of the most high-profile estates in the United Kingdom, due to its notoriety and usage as a filming location...

. Many interiors were filmed in sets built in the old Runnymede
Runnymede
Runnymede is a water-meadow alongside the River Thames in the English county of Berkshire, and just over west of central London. It is notable for its association with the sealing of Magna Carta, and as a consequence is the site of a collection of memorials...

 campus of Brunel University
Brunel University
Brunel University is a public research university located in Uxbridge, London, United Kingdom. The university is named after the Victorian engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel....

. The scenes under the flyover are in Boston Manor Park in Brentford
Brentford
Brentford is a suburban town in west London, England, and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It is located at the confluence of the River Thames and the River Brent, west-southwest of Charing Cross. Its former ceremonial county was Middlesex.-Toponymy:...

, London. The bar in the second and third series was not located in South Street, Brunel; it was a set built specifically for the show.

Marketing

The first series was accompanied by an online viral marketing
Viral marketing
Viral marketing, viral advertising, or marketing buzz are buzzwords referring to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness or to achieve other marketing objectives through self-replicating viral processes, analogous to the spread of viruses...

 campaign produced by Six to Start, on social networking websites such as Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...

 and Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...

. For example, in a British first, the characters Simon and Kelly tweeted during the initial transmission of each episode, with the content of the tweets provided by writers Sam Liefer and Ben Edwards, under the direction of lead writer Howard Overman and executive producer Petra Fried. These tweets and other website postings provided additional narrative material, and amongst other things did not ultimately reveal the identity of a key character who appeared only in episode six. Additional strategic components included direct-to
Direct-to-video
Direct-to-video is a term used to describe a film that has been released to the public on home video formats without being released in film theaters or broadcast on television...

YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....

 video clips and an online game based on the show.

Critical response

British reviews have been very positive. The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...

 gave it four out of five stars, calling it "a new union — salty British street humour with whizz-bang special effects" which should "keep E4's core audience happy".
An online review by The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...

 said that it was "confident enough to operate in its own universe and set up something new" and that it was aimed at showing us "real people" rather than the stereotype of the "ASBO
Anti-Social Behaviour Order
An Anti-Social Behaviour Order or ASBO is a civil order made against a person who has been shown, on the balance of evidence, to have engaged in anti-social behaviour. The orders, introduced in the United Kingdom by Prime Minister Tony Blair in 1998, were designed to correct minor incidents that...

 teenager". The Guardian's print reviewer was also enthusiastic, saying: "Misfits is indeed silly — sillier, even, than it sounds — but it's also brilliant: sharp, funny, dark and, in places, quite chilling. Both the writing and the performances ensure that everything but the preposterous central premise remains entirely believable."
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...

 drew special attention to Howard Overman's script which, it said, "sparkled from the off, introducing his posse of social outcasts as a bunch of total losers, but each one distinctively and memorably so."

The Irish
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 media have also been impressed with the show. The Evening Herald
Evening Herald
The Evening Herald is a mid-market tabloid evening newspaper published in Dublin, Ireland by Independent News & Media. It is published Monday-Saturday, and has three editions — City Edition, City Final Edition and National Edition...

 called the debut episode "dark, hilarious, exciting and beautifully produced". It went on to say that "the spark comes from Overman's razor-sharp script, yet a lot of the credit also has to go to the well-chosen young cast, who are uniformly superb."

Awards

Both the series and its writer Howard Overman
Howard Overman
Howard Overman is a television writer who has written scripts for serial dramas such as Hotel Babylon, New Tricks, Hustle, Harley Street and Merlin....

 were nominated for RTS Awards
Royal Television Society
The Royal Television Society is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present and future. It is the oldest television society in the world...

 in March 2010. The series won the 2010 BAFTA Television Award
British Academy Television Awards
The British Academy Television Awards are presented in an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts . They have been awarded annually since 1954, and are analogous to the Emmy Awards in the United States.-Background:...

 for Best Drama Series. Lauren Socha
Lauren Socha
Lauren Marie Socha is a BAFTA award winning English actress, best known for her starring role in the E4 comedy-drama television series Misfits and a co-starring role in the Channel 4 drama The Unloved. She attended St. George's RC Primary School, Burton College and Saint Benedict School and...

 has won "Best Supporting Actress" for her part as Kelly.

Television ratings

Series 1
Episode Air date Viewers Rank
E4 E4+1 Total E4 E4+1
One 12 November 2009 574,000 213,000 787,000 #4 #9
Two 19 November 2009 569,000 169,000 738,000 #2 #11
Three 26 November 2009 592,000 88,000 680,000 #1 #11
Four 3 December 2009 632,000 78,000 710,000 #5 #11
Five 10 December 2009 598,000 72,000 670,000 #8 #21
Six 17 December 2009 592,000 68,000 660,000 #6 #21


Series 2
Episode Air date Viewers Rank
E4 E4+1 Total E4 E4+1
One 11 November 2010 1,185,000 238,000 1,423,000 #1 #5
Two 18 November 2010 1,055,000 250,000 1,305,000 #1 #2
Three 25 November 2010 1,119,000 251,000 1,370,000 #1 #4
Four 2 December 2010 1,075,000 341,000 1,416,000 #1 #2
Five 9 December 2010 1,074,000 355,000 1,429,000 #1 #1
Six 16 December 2010 1,201,000 392,000 1,593,000 #2 #1
Christmas Special 19 December 2010 1,420,000 278,000 1,698,000 #1 #3

Series 3
Episode Air date Viewers Rank
E4 E4+1 Total E4 E4+1
One 30 October 2011 1,471,000 323,000 1,794,000 #1 #2
Two 6 November 2011 1,308,000 298,000 1,606,000 #4 #4
Three 13 November 2011 1,144,000 323,000 1,467,000 #1 #3
Four 20 November 2011 1,116,000 308,000 1,424,000 #1 #2
Five 27 November 2011
Six 4 December 2011
Seven 11 December 2011
Eight 18 December 2011

External links

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