State of Play (TV serial)
| State of Play | |
|---|---|
State of Play DVD
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| Genre |
Conspiracy thriller Political thriller |
| Created by | Paul Abbott |
| Written by | Paul Abbott |
| Directed by | David Yates |
| Starring |
David Morrissey John Simm Kelly Macdonald Polly Walker Bill Nighy James McAvoy Marc Warren Philip Glenister |
| Composer(s) | Nicholas Hooper |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of series | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 6 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) |
Gareth Neame Laura Mackie Paul Abbott |
| Producer(s) | Hilary Bevan Jones |
| Cinematography | Chris Seager |
| Editor(s) | Mark Day |
| Running time | 57 minutes |
| Release | |
| Original network | BBC One |
| Original release | 18 May – 22 June 2003 |
| Website | |
State of Play is a six-part British television drama serial directed by David Yates and written by Paul Abbott. The serial, first broadcast on BBC One in 2003, was produced in-house by the BBC in association with the independent production company Endor Productions. It starred David Morrissey, John Simm, Kelly Macdonald, Polly Walker, Bill Nighy, and James McAvoy, telling the story of a newspaper's investigation into the death of a young woman, and centres on the relationship between the leading journalist and his old friend, who is a Member of Parliament and the murdered woman's employer. The series is set in London.
While investigating the murder of 15-year-old teenager Kelvin Stagg, in what appears to be a drug-related killing, and the apparently coincidental death of Sonia Baker, a young researcher for MP Stephen Collins (David Morrissey), journalist Cal McCaffrey of The Herald (John Simm) and his colleagues (including Kelly Macdonald as Della Smith and Bill Nighy as editor Cameron Foster) find not only a connection between the deaths, but a conspiracy with links to oil industry-backed corruption of high-ranking British government ministers.
The serial was Paul Abbott's first attempt to write a political thriller, and he initially made the majority of the plot up as he went along. He was prompted to write the serial after BBC Head of Drama Jane Tranter asked whether he would rather write something "bigger" than he had usually written so far in his career. The serial was Abbott's third major writing project for the BBC, following Clocking Off (2000–2003) and Linda Green (2001–2002). State of Play was also a major turning point in David Yates' directorial career, as he began to direct various high-profile television projects.
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