Kingdom (2007 TV series)
| Kingdom | |
|---|---|
Kingdom intertitle
|
|
| Genre | Comedy drama |
| Created by |
Simon Wheeler Alan Whiting (co-creator) |
| Starring | |
| Composer(s) | Mark Russell |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| No. of series | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 18 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Simon Wheeler Stephen Fry Alan Moloney Gina Carter |
| Producer(s) | Georgina Lowe |
| Running time | 46 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Parallel Film and Television Sprout Productions Ingenious Broadcasting |
| Release | |
| Original network | ITV |
| First shown in | Pan-Europe (Series 1) Belgium (Series 3) |
| Original release | 22 April 2007 – 12 July 2009 |
| External links | |
| Website | |
Kingdom is a British television series produced by Parallel Film and Television Productions for the ITV network. It was created by Simon Wheeler and stars Stephen Fry as Peter Kingdom, a Norfolk solicitor who is coping with family, colleagues, and the strange locals who come to him for legal assistance. The series also starred Hermione Norris, Celia Imrie, Karl Davies, Phyllida Law and Tony Slattery.
The first series of six one-hour episodes was aired in 2007 and averaged six million viewers per week. Despite a mid-series ratings dip, the executive chairman of ITV praised the programme and ordered a second series, which was filmed in 2007 and broadcast in January and February 2008. Filming on the third series ran from July to September 2008 for broadcast from 7 June 2009.
Stephen Fry announced in October 2009 that ITV was cancelling the series, a fact later confirmed by the channel, which said that given tighter budgets, more expensive productions were being cut.
The series follows Peter Kingdom, a small-town solicitor whose work revolves around cases brought by the eclectic and eccentric populace of Market Shipborough. The series retains a largely episodic format, where self-contained plots play out before the hour concludes, though a continuing storyline concerns the mysterious disappearance of Simon Kingdom, Peter's half-brother. The first episode reveals that he vanished at sea six months previously and that everybody who knew him (including Peter) assumed that he committed suicide. Each week there are further indications that he did not die, culminating in episode six when it is revealed that he had a relationship with a woman, and that she had become pregnant with his child after he had supposedly died. In the first series we are also introduced to Peter's half-sister, Beatrice, who slowly becomes an integral character in the series.
Simon returns in the second series and is charged with faking his own death. He is released from custody after Lyle uses Simon's own money to bail him, and when Simon reveals he was actually attempting suicide. Beatrice learns that she is pregnant, so she leaves Market Shipborough until the baby is born in the last episode of the series. Lyle threatens to leave Kingdom & Kingdom when his mentor Peter begins to neglect him, but he changes his mind when Peter makes him a partner. In the final episode, a torrential storm hits Market Shipborough, flooding much of the town. While searching for his brother, who drove off the previous night, Peter encounters something unseen by the audience, which is revealed to be Simon's dead body in Series 3.
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