Metropolis (TV series)
| Metropolis | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Genre | Thriller |
| Written by | Peter Morgan |
| Directed by | Tim Whitby |
| Starring |
Matthew Rhys Louise Lombard Jason Barry Kris Marshall Flora Montgomery Emily Bruni |
| Composer(s) | Jonathan Whitehead |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 8 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Andy Harries |
| Producer(s) | Glenn Wilhide |
| Editor(s) | Michael Parkinson |
| Running time | 30—60 minutes |
| Production company(s) |
Bell Media Granada Television |
| Release | |
| Original network | ITV/STV/UTV |
| Picture format | 16:9 |
| Audio format | Stereo |
| Original release | 1 May – 15 May 2000 |
Metropolis is an eight-part British television drama series, first broadcast in May 2000. The series was written by Peter Morgan, produced by Glenn Wilhide and directed by Tim Whitby for Granada Television on ITV. The series starred a notable cast including James Fox, Louise Lombard, James Purefoy, Kris Marshall, Flora Montgomery and Matthew Rhys. Metropolis follows a group of friends who have recently graduated from university, making their way in the big city. Music for the series was composed by Jonathan Whitehead.
After gathering an adequate viewing audience, the series was considered for an American re-make - but the pilot episode, filmed in 2001, was not picked up by any of the major networks, and the idea was shelved. Likewise, a second series was also shelved, with the series failure to be recommissioned blamed on poor scheduling, with broadcast switching between Mondays and Tuesdays, and some episodes being broadcast back-to-back in an hour slot, with others being broadcast as a single stand-alone 30-minute episode. The complete series was released on VHS on June 16, 2000.
Eddie Holt of the Irish Times said of the first episode; "We are introduced to the six-pack of Metropolis as they leave Leeds University. Cut to five years later. The three women, Charlotte (Louise Lombard), Sophie (Flora Montgomery) and Tanya (Emily Bruni) are respectively, a junior financial hackette on a magazine, a researcher for the Conservative Party and an agony aunt. Only one of the men, Frank (Kris Marshall), works and he feels compelled to turn the tables on his insurance company employers. As an implausibly idealistic loss adjustor, he is disgusted by the company's scams to avoid pay-outs. He fiddles the claims in favour of the claimants. The other two blokes, Matthew (Matthew Rhys) and Alastair (Jason Barry), have remained dope-smoking slackers. Ambitious Charlotte lives with indolent Matthew. Charlotte acts like a junior Sue Ellen Ewing - lots of lip gymnastics and soulful stares. Mind you, unlike the richter-scale efforts of Texan Sue Ellen, Charlotte's lip tremors are tiny English quivers. Anyway, she cheats on Matthew and takes up with sixty-two-year-old billionaire lecher Milton Friedkin (James Fox). He feeds her career-enhancing stories and she feeds him her twenty-seven-year-old nubility. Primed by her sugar daddy, she gets her "first official byline".
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