The four part adaptation of Michel Faber’s best seller, THE CRIMSON PETAL AND THE WHITE, has been penned by acclaimed playwright and screenwriter Lucinda Coxon. Directed by award winning Marc Munden (The Devil's Whore, The Mark Of Cain), the intimate psychological thriller lifts the lid on the darker side of Victorian London revealing a world seething with vitality, sexuality, ambition and emotion.

Starring Romola Garai (Emma, Atonement), Chris O’Dowd (IT Crowd, The Boat That Rocked), Gillian Anderson (X-Files, Bleak House), Richard E Grant (Withnail and I, Gosford Park), Shirley Henderson (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Charles II), Amanda Hale (Murderland, Bright Star) and Mark Gatiss (Sherlock, The League of Gentlemen)

This provocative and riveting tale tells the story of Sugar (Romola Garai), an alluring, well read young prostitute who yearns for a better life away from the brothel she is attached to, run by the contemptible Mrs Castaway (Gillian Anderson). Highly sought after and sexually adept, Sugar finds her only comfort in the secret novel she is writing in which a murderous prostitute takes revenge on her clients. However, things change for her when she meets wealthy businessman William Rackham (Chris O’Dowd).

Sugar is a thrilling antidote to William’s life, saddled with a pious brother, Henry Rackham (Mark Gatiss) and fragile wife Agnes Rackham (Amanda Hale.) Agnes regularly endures visits from the invasive physician Doctor Curlew (Richard E Grant) leaving her unable to perform her wifely duties.

William ensconces Sugar as his mistress and she soon grows accustomed to her new life. Yet unbeknownst to William, Sugar begins to hatch a plan which sets a series of events in motion that will change their lives forever…

PRESS

“So, what to praise first? There was Lucinda Coxon's faultless script. There was the superb acting, not least from Amanda Hale as the porcelain-fragile Agnes... There was the woozy, gauzy, brilliantly claustrophobic atmosphere -­ the product of Cristobal Tapia de Veer's score and Marc Munden's exceptional, stylish, unselfconscious direction. This was an adult drama in every sense, and as complex and rewarding as anything the BBC has produced. In a nutshell: cor.”
THE GUARDIAN

“a deep, dark treat…it could turn out to be the outstanding drama of the year.”
THE TIMES

“It’s vicious, dreamy, taut, poetic, beautiful…utterly riveting, must-see TV.”
GRAZIA

“…a rare and different beast…richly subtle lead performances and intoxicatingly woozy camerawork, this dark, velveteen dramatisation of Michel Faber's novel took (and gave) great pleasure in confounding convention and expectorating expectations…Romola Garai was a revelation.”
THE OBSERVER

"It's beautifully done, raising the bar for other costume dramas and resonating long after the end."
RADIO TIMES

"A brilliantly dank and impressively well-sustained series; credit must go to Lucinda Coxon's script and superb cast, led by the righteously simmering Romola Garai."
TIME OUT

“Mesmerising...As with all the best stories, nothing that happens next is predictable…Chris O'Dowd is nothing short of a revelation.”
THE TIMES

“…compelling, beautifully shot and vividly acted.”
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH

"Romola Garai is once again magnificent as the heroine…"
SUNDAY TIMES

"This series has been a triumph and heralds a resurgence for drama on BBC Two.”
TV TIMES

FREEFALL, aired in July 2009, was the first drama to tackle head on the financial crisis. Directed by multi-BAFTA winning director Dominic Savage (Out of Control, Nice Girl), the film takes a startling and provocative look at the events that caused our lives to spiral out of control. With pace, edge and real emotional punch, it gives a unique insight into how we came so perilously close to the edge.

Tautly and delicately interwoven, the film follows the lives of three men with everything on the line. Gus (Aiden Gillen) is the high flying city exec who packages and sells bundles of mortgages for extortionate profit. Dave (Dominic Cooper) is the mortgage broker who can make anything happen, and when Dave offers Jim (Joseph Mawle), his old school friend, a way out of the council flat he and his family have been stuck in for years, it’s an offer that is too good to refuse. A way of fulfilling his lifelong dream of becoming a homeowner.

When the market collapses, each character is confronted by a shocking, revelatory truth that shines a burning light on the new realities we face.

Starring Dominic Cooper (The Duchess, Mamma Mia), Joseph Mawle (The Passion, Persuasion), Aidan Gillen (Queer as Folk, The Wire), Rosamund Pike (Pride and Prejudice, Die Another Day) and Anna Maxwell Martin (Moonshot, Bleak House).