Outcasts (TV series)
Encyclopedia
Outcasts is an eight-part 2011 British television science-fiction drama
serial
, starring Liam Cunningham, Hermione Norris
, Amy Manson
, Daniel Mays
, Jamie Bamber
, Eric Mabius
and Ashley Walters. It originally aired on BBC One, and BBC HD.
" five years' travel from Earth. Carpathia has been colonised by a succession of spaceships fleeing destruction and nuclear conflict back on Earth. Most of the planet's population is living within the limits of the pioneer town Forthaven, which was first settled
ten years before the time of the beginning of the series. The Carpathians live in ignorance of Earth's fate, receiving news only through the few evacuee transporter ships that successfully pass through the difficult atmospheric entry to Carpathia. Carpathia was so-named by the colonists in honour of the RMS Carpathia
, a ship that came to rescue survivors of the historic RMS Titanic disaster.
The story focuses on the President of Carpathia, Richard Tate, and core members of the Protection and Security (PAS) team, as well as Expeditionaries (XPs), whose role is to explore the planet on foot and retrieve resources and medicines. With the arrival of CT-9, perhaps the last transporter that will reach Carpathia from Earth, the storylines revolve around the ongoing lives of the existing settlers, the induction of new evacuees into the Forthaven community and the effect of others living outside the walls of Forthaven.
The Advanced Cultivars (ACs) are a group of artificially created humans designed to survive in harsh conditions. Early in the colonisation, they were blamed for a plague
which killed many of the new colony's children, including those of President Tate. Some of the ACs have specific problems due to their conditioning. They are supposedly sterile.
Though the planet only has simple native animals and birds, over the course of the series the colony discovers evidence of both an extinct native hominid species and a mysterious alien presence.
for BBC One
, the series started shooting in South Africa
in May 2010, coinciding with the 2010 FIFA World Cup
being held there. According to David Stephenson, writing in the Daily Express
, the original scripts underwent 25 rewrites.
, Brian Viner admitted that at first Outcasts rekindled his prejudices about science fiction but he was gradually sucked in. The first episode was "well written", "smartly directed" and "splendidly acted". These quotes are also used as blurb
on the cover of the Blu-ray release of the series.
However, other reviews for the series were generally more negative. Reviewing for The Daily Telegraph
, Chris Harvey found it "one of the most staggeringly uninteresting dramas that’s been on television for a while", "drab" and "pretty turgid human drama."
Kevin O'Sullivan writing for The Daily Mirror
said, "Hermione Norris and Daniel Mays in excrutiating sci-fi rubbish", and "Who directed it? Ed Wood? And what a script! So jaw-droppingly dreadful it hurt".
The Times
reviewer, David Chater wrote, "Not since Bonekickers
has the BBC broadcast such an irredeemably awful series. Sometimes catastrophes on this scale can be enjoyed precisely because they are so dismal, but this one has a kind of grinding badness that defies enjoyment of any kind".
Andrew Anthony for The Observer
concluded, "All along I've been misreading the series as a kind of cosmic tragedy when in reality it was a tragic comedy. It wasn't trying to be wise. Deep down, Carpathia was pure Morecambe
."
Discussion of the series and its plot/script issues took place across various sites, including The Guardian
s episode by episode review by Phelim O'Neill, an interactive interview with writer/creator Ben Richards, and at Digital Spy
.
Audience figures for the series were poor: starting from an initial low figure of 4.5 million viewers for the pilot episode, the show lost nearly two-thirds over its run, to finish with 1.56 million UK viewers.
Ben Richards, the writer/creator of the show, remained defiant, commenting, "I have every confidence we will rule our new slot. Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose!" and "Cultdom beckons. And keep watching hardcore because remaining eps great."
On 14 March 2011 (the day following the final episode), the BBC confirmed that Outcasts had been cancelled, and that there would be no second series.
and two disc high-definition Blu-ray package on the 4 April 2011, through 2 Entertain
, BBFC rated 15.
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
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...
, starring Liam Cunningham, Hermione Norris
Hermione Norris
Hermione Norris is an English actress.Norris attended the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in the 1980s before taking small roles in theatre and on television. In 1996, she was cast in her breakout role of Karen Marsden in the comedy drama television series Cold Feet...
, Amy Manson
Amy Manson
Amy Manson is a Scottish actress, known for portraying Alice Guppy in Torchwood, Abby Evans in Casualty, Lizzie Siddal in Desperate Romantics and Daisy Hannigan-Spiteri in Being Human.-Background:...
, Daniel Mays
Daniel Mays
-Early life:One of four boys, Mays was raised in Buckhurst Hill, Essex, by his electrician father and bank cashier mother. He attended the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts before going on to win a place at The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.-Career:...
, Jamie Bamber
Jamie Bamber
Jamie Bamber is the stage name of Jamie St. John Bamber Griffith , a British actor known most widely for his roles as Lee Adama on Battlestar Galactica and Detective Sergeant Matt Devlin on the ITV series Law & Order: UK...
, Eric Mabius
Eric Mabius
Eric Harry Timothy Mabius is an American actor known for his work as Daniel Meade on the ABC television series Ugly Betty. He also worked on the Showtime series The L Word and in the films Resident Evil and Cruel Intentions....
and Ashley Walters. It originally aired on BBC One, and BBC HD.
Plot
Outcasts is set in the year 2060 on the fictional planet Carpathia, a so-called "Goldilocks planetHabitable zone
In astronomy and astrobiology, a habitable zone is an umbrella term for regions that are considered favourable to life. The concept is inferred from the empirical study of conditions favourable for Life on Earth...
" five years' travel from Earth. Carpathia has been colonised by a succession of spaceships fleeing destruction and nuclear conflict back on Earth. Most of the planet's population is living within the limits of the pioneer town Forthaven, which was first settled
Settler
A settler is a person who has migrated to an area and established permanent residence there, often to colonize the area. Settlers are generally people who take up residence on land and cultivate it, as opposed to nomads...
ten years before the time of the beginning of the series. The Carpathians live in ignorance of Earth's fate, receiving news only through the few evacuee transporter ships that successfully pass through the difficult atmospheric entry to Carpathia. Carpathia was so-named by the colonists in honour of the RMS Carpathia
RMS Carpathia
RMS Carpathia was a Cunard Line transatlantic passenger steamship built by Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson. Carpathia made her maiden voyage in 1903 and became famous for rescuing the survivors of after the latter ship hit an iceberg and sank on 15 April 1912...
, a ship that came to rescue survivors of the historic RMS Titanic disaster.
The story focuses on the President of Carpathia, Richard Tate, and core members of the Protection and Security (PAS) team, as well as Expeditionaries (XPs), whose role is to explore the planet on foot and retrieve resources and medicines. With the arrival of CT-9, perhaps the last transporter that will reach Carpathia from Earth, the storylines revolve around the ongoing lives of the existing settlers, the induction of new evacuees into the Forthaven community and the effect of others living outside the walls of Forthaven.
Science fiction elements
While much of the series deals with human relationships in a hostile environment, there are a number of sci-fi elements—such as being set in the future, on a planet in a faraway solar system, after some sort of global catastrophe.The Advanced Cultivars (ACs) are a group of artificially created humans designed to survive in harsh conditions. Early in the colonisation, they were blamed for a plague
Epidemic
In epidemiology, an epidemic , occurs when new cases of a certain disease, in a given human population, and during a given period, substantially exceed what is expected based on recent experience...
which killed many of the new colony's children, including those of President Tate. Some of the ACs have specific problems due to their conditioning. They are supposedly sterile.
Though the planet only has simple native animals and birds, over the course of the series the colony discovers evidence of both an extinct native hominid species and a mysterious alien presence.
Cast
- Liam Cunningham as President Richard Tate
- Hermione NorrisHermione NorrisHermione Norris is an English actress.Norris attended the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in the 1980s before taking small roles in theatre and on television. In 1996, she was cast in her breakout role of Karen Marsden in the comedy drama television series Cold Feet...
as Dr. Stella Isen, Head of Protection and Security (PAS) - Daniel MaysDaniel Mays-Early life:One of four boys, Mays was raised in Buckhurst Hill, Essex, by his electrician father and bank cashier mother. He attended the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts before going on to win a place at The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.-Career:...
as PAS Officer Cass Cromwell - Amy MansonAmy MansonAmy Manson is a Scottish actress, known for portraying Alice Guppy in Torchwood, Abby Evans in Casualty, Lizzie Siddal in Desperate Romantics and Daisy Hannigan-Spiteri in Being Human.-Background:...
as PAS Officer Fleur Morgan - Ashley Walters as Expeditionary Jack Holt
- Michael LeggeMichael Legge (actor)Michael Legge is a Northern Irish actor.He has appeared in a number of stage, film, television and radio roles. He may be best known for playing the teenaged Frank McCourt in Alan Parker's 1999 film, Angela's Ashes....
as Tipper Malone, an anti-authoritarian black marketeer - Eric MabiusEric MabiusEric Harry Timothy Mabius is an American actor known for his work as Daniel Meade on the ABC television series Ugly Betty. He also worked on the Showtime series The L Word and in the films Resident Evil and Cruel Intentions....
as Julius Berger, former Vice President of the Earth Evacuation Programme - Laura GreenwoodLaura GreenwoodLaura Greenwood is an English actress and a member of the YoungBlood Theatre Company in 2006.Greenwood's big breakthrough came in 2006 when at age 14 she starred as Penny Philips opposite Helen Mirren in Prime Suspect The Final Act, the two-part conclusion to ITV's long-running series...
as Aisling - Langley Kirkwood as Rudi
- Imdad Miah as Santi
- Patrick Lyster as Captain Kellermann, commander of CT-9 (Colony Transporter 9)
- Jeanne Kietzmann as Lily Isen, Stella's daughter
- Jamie BamberJamie BamberJamie Bamber is the stage name of Jamie St. John Bamber Griffith , a British actor known most widely for his roles as Lee Adama on Battlestar Galactica and Detective Sergeant Matt Devlin on the ITV series Law & Order: UK...
as Mitchell Hoban, Head of the Expeditionaries (XPs) His Psych profile gives his date of birth (12/03/2023) and indicates that he may suffer from multiple personality disorder.
Production
In development since 2007, produced by Kudos Film & TelevisionKudos (production company)
Kudos Film and Television is a British independent film and television production company. It has produced television series for the BBC, ITV and Channel 4, and its productions include Spooks , Hustle, Life on Mars and its spin-off Ashes to Ashes, The Amazing Mrs Pritchard and M.I. High...
for 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...
, the series started shooting in South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
in May 2010, coinciding with the 2010 FIFA World Cup
2010 FIFA World Cup
The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national association football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010...
being held there. According to David Stephenson, writing in the Daily Express
Daily Express
The Daily Express switched from broadsheet to tabloid in 1977 and was bought by the construction company Trafalgar House in the same year. Its publishing company, Beaverbrook Newspapers, was renamed Express Newspapers...
, the original scripts underwent 25 rewrites.
Episodes
| Episode | Title | Directed by | Written by | UK viewers (million) |
Share (%) |
Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Reception
Writing in The IndependentThe Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
, Brian Viner admitted that at first Outcasts rekindled his prejudices about science fiction but he was gradually sucked in. The first episode was "well written", "smartly directed" and "splendidly acted". These quotes are also used as blurb
Blurb
A blurb is a short summary or some words of praise accompanying a creative work, usually used on books without giving away any details, that is usually referring to the words on the back of the book jacket but also commonly seen on DVD and video cases, web portals, and news websites.- History :The...
on the cover of the Blu-ray release of the series.
However, other reviews for the series were generally more negative. Reviewing for 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...
, Chris Harvey found it "one of the most staggeringly uninteresting dramas that’s been on television for a while", "drab" and "pretty turgid human drama."
Kevin O'Sullivan writing for The Daily Mirror
The Daily Mirror
The Daily Mirror is a British national daily tabloid newspaper which was founded in 1903. Twice in its history, from 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was changed to read simply The Mirror, which is how the paper is often referred to in popular parlance. It had an...
said, "Hermione Norris and Daniel Mays in excrutiating sci-fi rubbish", and "Who directed it? Ed Wood? And what a script! So jaw-droppingly dreadful it hurt".
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...
reviewer, David Chater wrote, "Not since Bonekickers
Bonekickers
Bonekickers was a BBC drama about a team of archaeologists, set at the fictional Wessex University. It debuted on 8 July 2008 and ran for one series....
has the BBC broadcast such an irredeemably awful series. Sometimes catastrophes on this scale can be enjoyed precisely because they are so dismal, but this one has a kind of grinding badness that defies enjoyment of any kind".
Andrew Anthony for The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
concluded, "All along I've been misreading the series as a kind of cosmic tragedy when in reality it was a tragic comedy. It wasn't trying to be wise. Deep down, Carpathia was pure Morecambe
Morecambe and Wise
Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise, usually referred to as Morecambe and Wise, or Eric and Ernie, were a British comic double act, working in variety, radio, film and most successfully in television. Their partnership lasted from 1941 until Morecambe's death in 1984...
."
Discussion of the series and its plot/script issues took place across various sites, including The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
s episode by episode review by Phelim O'Neill, an interactive interview with writer/creator Ben Richards, and at Digital Spy
Digital Spy
Digital Spy is a British entertainment and media news website. According to Alexa Internet traffic statistics, as of February 2011, Digital Spy is the 93rd most popular website in the United Kingdom, with an overall Alexa ranking of 2,088....
.
Audience figures for the series were poor: starting from an initial low figure of 4.5 million viewers for the pilot episode, the show lost nearly two-thirds over its run, to finish with 1.56 million UK viewers.
Scheduling and cancellation
Having originally launched on Mondays and Tuesdays at 21:00, The Guardian reported that after disappointing ratings, the fifth episode would be the last in this prime time slot, with subsequent episodes being rescheduled to late nights on Sundays.Ben Richards, the writer/creator of the show, remained defiant, commenting, "I have every confidence we will rule our new slot. Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose!" and "Cultdom beckons. And keep watching hardcore because remaining eps great."
On 14 March 2011 (the day following the final episode), the BBC confirmed that Outcasts had been cancelled, and that there would be no second series.
International broadcast
| Country | Network | First broadcast |
|---|---|---|
| Australia | ABC1 ABC1 ABC1 was a United Kingdom based television channel from Disney using the branding of the Disney owned American network, ABC.The channel initially launched exclusively on the British digital terrestrial television platform Freeview on 27 September 2004. On 10 December 2004 it was launched on... |
28 May 2011 |
| Canada | Space Channel | 18 June 2011 |
| USA | BBC America BBC America BBC America is an American television network, owned and operated by BBC Worldwide, and available on both cable and satellite.-History:The channel launched on March 29, 1998, broadcasting comedy, drama and lifestyle programs from BBC Television and other British television broadcasters like ITV and... |
18 June 2011 |
| Scandinavia | Canal+ Scandinavia C More Entertainment C More Entertainment is a premium television company, operating under the banner CANAL+, that targets the Nordic Countries and with one separate channel in Sweden .... |
October 2011 |
DVD releases
Outcasts was released as both a three disc DVDDVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
and two disc high-definition Blu-ray package on the 4 April 2011, through 2 Entertain
2 Entertain
2 Entertain is a British video and music publisher, formed by the merger of BBC Video and Video Collection International in 2004....
, BBFC rated 15.
| Format | Prod. code ASIN ref |
Other details | Special Features |
|---|---|---|---|
| DVD 3 disc |
BBCDVD3339 B004M5J7XU |
Region 2, Anamorphic Widescreen 16:9, PAL, Run Time 470 minutes, English language, English subtitles |
|
| Blu-ray 2 disc |
BBCBD0156 B004PFB8K2 |
Region 2, Anamorphic Widescreen 16:9, PAL, Run Time 470 minutes, English language, English subtitles |
|