| Utopia | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Also known as | Iwtopia (Wales) |
| Genre | |
| Created by | Dennis Kelly |
| Based on | an original idea by
|
| Written by |
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| Directed by |
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| Starring | |
| Composer | Cristobal Tapia de Veer |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| No. of series | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 12(list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
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| Producer | Rebekah Wray-Rogers |
| Production locations | Liverpool, England[1] |
| Cinematography |
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| Editors |
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| Running time | 45–62 minutes |
| Production company | Kudos |
| Original release | |
| Network | Channel 4 |
| Release | 15 January 2013 (2013-01-15) – 12 August 2014 (2014-08-12) |
Utopia is a Britishconspiracy thriller television series that was originally broadcast onChannel 4.[2][3] The show was written byDennis Kelly and starredFiona O'Shaughnessy,Adeel Akhtar,Paul Higgins,Nathan Stewart-Jarrett,Alexandra Roach, Oliver Woollford,Alistair Petrie, andNeil Maskell.[4][5] The show has since gained acult following.[6][7]
In October 2014, the series' officialTwitter feed stated there would not be a third series.[8][9]HBO had originally planned to make an American version of the show in 2014, but did not produce it due to budget disputes.Amazon then acquired the rights to the series as of April 2018, and anAmerican version was released on 25 September 2020. Initially nearly inaccessible to the U.S. market, both of the original series were released onAmazon Prime on 1 November 2020.[10]
| Series | Episodes | Originally aired | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First aired | Last aired | |||
| 1 | 6 | 15 January 2013 | 19 February 2013 | |
| 2 | 6 | 14 July 2014 | 12 August 2014 | |
A community of comic book fans believe the graphic novelThe Utopia Experiments predicted several disastrous epidemics, such asmad cow disease (BSE). A rumoured unpublished sequel supposedly contains further information on future world events. When oneUtopia enthusiast procures the manuscript, he invites four of his friends from an online forum to meet in real life before he gets killed. However, after getting their hands on the manuscript, the four – Ian, Becky, Wilson, and Grant – find themselves in over their heads, as a secret organization only known as "The Network" is after it. They find their lives systematically dismantled, while The Network operatives kill anyone in their way as they hunt for the manuscript and someone named Jessica Hyde.
Jessica, who has been on the run from The Network her entire life, meets with the group and helps them evade capture. Meanwhile, other characters find themselves ensnared in The Network's orbit, and through their interactions with its agents, the organization's purpose and secret plot come into focus. The closer people come to understanding what's truly going on, the more dangerous things become. As rumours of "Russian flu" proliferate worldwide and a variety of groups and individuals close in on the protagonists, they try to solve the web of mysteries and conspiracies around them.
In April 2012, Channel 4 announced that it had commissioned a six-episode drama series titledUtopia.[15] The series was written byDennis Kelly and produced byKudos Film and Television.Marc Munden was chosen as the director, Rebekah Wray-Rogers the producer, and Dennis Kelly, Jane Featherstone, and Karen Wilson the executive producers.[16]
Kudos Film and Television approached Kelly with an idea about a conspiracy hidden inside a graphic novel.[17] Kelly liked some of the idea, but some of it he changed. The story involved a shadowy organisation called The Network, and Kelly initially came out with an idea that The Network might be responsible for the rise in conspiracy theories because they thought it would be the best way to hide an actual conspiracy.[18] Kelly said he does not believe in conspiracy theories, but is fascinated by them.[19] The series took about two years to come to fruition.[18]
Prior to receiving the commission from Channel 4, the show was being developed atSky, where it was intended to connect with another series. As Dennis Kelly recalls, the sister show – which was in development at the same time – followed the 1960s and 1970s hippie scene. The two were intended to share some limited continuity, but be made by different showrunners and production companies. Sky ultimately declined to commission either series.[20]
Munden modelled the tone ofUtopia on the early films ofRoman Polanski, specificallyCul-de-sac.[21]
To emulate the graphic novel printing process, Munden chose to use aTechnicolor palette: "The three-strip Technicolor process we use is comprised of the opposite colours – yellows, cyan, magentas. I was interested in Doris Day films from the 1950s that pushed those distinct elements." Colourist Aidan Farrell used grading software Nucoda Film Master to paint bolder colours into the shots. By the second series the production crew were preparing the film sets for grading.[22]
Despite taking up just one line in the pilot script, director Marc Munden has described Lee’s distinctive yellow bag as “a sort of jumping off point for the rest of the colour palette” for the show.[20] The colour yellow went on to feature extensively in the promotional campaign for the first series.[20]
ForUtopia's soundtrack, Munden and composerCristobal Tapia de Veer took inspiration from film composers such asKrzysztof Komeda andEric Rogers, and the electronic music ofDelia Derbyshire and Stock, Hausen & Walkman. Tapia de Veer heavily usedfield recordings to create the show's electronic soundtrack. These varied recordings included the sounds ofrhino excrement, a Chileantrutruca, and the voice of directorAlex García López. According to Tapia de Veer, "it was more about catching spirits on tape than organizing notes; an approach that helped articulate the mad complexity of Utopia’s characters and abstract yet emotional situations."[21] Tapia de Veer has said that the human voice appeals to him because of its range, explaining "it can be extremely creepy, or very moving".[20]
Tapia de Veer said in an interview with theRoyal Television Society thatUtopia first resonated with him in part because of his time growing up inPinochet’s Chile. Living under dictatorship imbued him with a dark sense of humour, similar to the one he recognised inUtopia.[20]
Utopia is set in London, but was filmed mostly inMerseyside andYorkshire between April and October 2012, while the panning shot of the Mercury Hotel in the first episode was filmed inWesthoughton. Producer Bekki Wray-Rogers claimed the reason for this was that no other area in the UK could have provided them with such a variety of locations.[1] Some scenes, such as the office of Conran Letts, were filmed atScarisbrick Hall nearOrmskirk. Scenes for the school shooting in episode 3 were filmed atAlsop High School inWalton whilst the school was closed for summer in July 2012. The empty red sandstone stately home the group make use of from episode 4 is filmed atWoolton Hall. The café scene in the fifth episode is filmed at TC's Cafe & Take-Away on Southport New Road near the village ofMere Brow.[23] Many scenes were filmed inCrosby andSkelmersdale. Scenes set in the office of a fictional newspaper were shot in the offices of the Liverpool Echo newspaper on Old Hall Street in Liverpool. The final scene of the first series, with Jessica and Milner, was shot atop theCunard Building, one ofLiverpool's "three graces".
In the second series, locations used includedBarnsley Interchange inBarnsley,Temple Works inLeeds,The Chocolate Works inYork, theYorkshire Dales National Park, theHepworth Gallery inWakefield, and various spots in Leeds city centre, which doubled as London by superimposing London landmarks on the horizon.[24][25] The scene in which Mr Rabbit and Philip Carvel meet was filmed atAllerton Castle nearHarrogate. The abandoned building in the second episode of series 2 was shot in the former Terry's Chocolate Factory in York.[26]
The TV drama referenced a number of real world events, and incorporated these events into the story of the conspiracy. In the second series, the show used various news footage from the 1970s including the assassinations ofAldo Moro,Carmine Pecorelli,Richard Sykes, andAirey Neave.[27] TheTWA Flight 841 disaster is also referenced in this episode. In particular, several events from a 10-day period in 1979, including theThree Mile Island accident and thecollapse of the Labour government, had been combined as a jumping off point for the second series.[28]
More recently[when?], conspiracy theorists have drawn parallels between the events ofUtopia and theCOVID-19 pandemic, believing coronavirus to be manufactured in a similar way toUtopia’s Russia flu. Kelly has stringently denied that the events ofUtopia mirror reality, asserting it to be a work of fiction. He has also said that he is unsure if he would make the show today, given changes to the social climate that have helped normalise conspiracy theories.[20]
Utopia was cancelled byChannel Four on 12 August 2014. The network's official statement was:
Utopia is truly channel-defining: strikingly original, powered by Dennis Kelly's extraordinary voice and brought to life in all its technicolor glory through Marc Munden's undeniable creative flair and vision, the team at Kudos delivered a series which has achieved fervent cult status over two brilliantly warped and nail-biting series. It also has the honour of ensuring audiences will never look at a spoon in the same way again. It’s always painful to say goodbye to shows we love, but it’s a necessary part of being able to commission new drama, a raft of which are launching on the channel throughout 2015.[29]
As well as receiving poor ratings, the planned HBO adaptation meant the British version never aired in America, according to director Marc Munden, preventing the show from gaining a larger audience. The viewers outside of the UK that did findUtopia tended to pirate it, according to Sam Donovan, who also directed a few episodes.[20]
The first series was generally well received by the critics, with some high praise for its striking visuals, but also some expressions of concern about its violence. Aidan Smith ofThe Scotsman noted both its "astonishing visuals" as well as its "astonishing violence",[30] while Tom Sutcliffe ofThe Independent thought it a dystopian fantasy "delivered with great visual style" but was not convinced that its violence is necessary.[31] Mark Monahan ofThe Daily Telegraph described it as "a dark, tantalizingly mysterious overture",[32] while Sam Wollaston ofThe Guardian called it "a work of brilliant imagination", "a 21st-century nightmare" that "looks beautiful", but also wondered about the gratuitousness of its violence.[33]
However,Utopia creator and writer Dennis Kelly defended the use of violence in his work, stating:
I think the Network, what they're trying to do, what Milner is trying to do, she believes in so much...The question is really simple and it's one that follows her through her life and the question is this: If I stop doing this, what's going to happen? What about the billions that live in the future?...The constant debate is about killing people, so I think you do need violence because you need the violence to tell the extreme of the story.
— Dennis Kelly, 'Utopia writer Dennis Kelly defends violent scenes',[34]
UK media regulatorOfcom received 44 complaints about the television series including complaints about violence, offensive language and child actors being involved in scenes of adult content. Thirty-seven of the complaints related to a scene at the beginning of the third episode where a shooting takes place in asecondary school,[35] a month after theSandy Hook Elementary School shooting.
In the second series, the use of real life events including theassassination ofAirey Neave prompted criticism of the show by a number of people, including members of the Neave family.[28][36] In response, Channel 4 issued a statement and said that the drama series is "entirely fictional" and "it is not [Channel 4's] intention to cause offence andUtopia does not suggest that any other real organization was responsible for the death of Airey Neave."[37]
In 2014, the series was nominated for and won theInternational Emmy Award for best drama series.[38][39]
| Year | Award | Category | Recipient | Results | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Royal Television Society Craft & Design Awards | Effects – Picture Enhancement | Aidan Farrell | Won | [40] |
| Music – Original Score | Cristobal Tapia de Veer | Won | [41] | ||
| Production Design – Drama | Kristian Milsted | Nominated | [42] | ||
| 2014 | Royal Television Society Programme Awards | Drama Series | Utopia | Nominated | [43] |
| Writer – Drama | Dennis Kelly | Nominated | [43] | ||
| BAFTA TV Craft Awards | Writer – Drama | Dennis Kelly | Nominated | [44] | |
| Photography And Lighting – Fiction | Ole Birkeland | Nominated | [44] | ||
| Director – Fiction | Marc Munden | Nominated | [44] | ||
| Digital Creativity | TH_NK | Nominated | [44] | ||
| International Emmy | Best Drama Series | Utopia | Won | [39] | |
| Royal Television Society Craft & Design Awards | Costume Design – Drama | Marianne Agertoft | Nominated | [45] | |
| Effects – Picture Enhancement | Aidan Farrell | Nominated | [45] | ||
| Music – Original Score | Cristobal Tapia de Veer | Nominated | [45] | ||
| Production Design – Drama | Jennifer Kernke | Won | [45] | ||
| Photography – Drama | Lol Crawley | Won | [45] | ||
| 2015 | Royal Television Society Programme Awards | Best Actor – Male | Adeel Akhtar | Nominated | [46] |
| BAFTA TV Awards | Supporting Actor | Adeel Akhtar | Nominated | [44] |
| Series | Episodes | Original air dates | DVD/Blu-ray release dates and details | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Series premiere | Series finale | Region 2/B | Region 4 | Special features | ||||
| 1 | 6 | 15 January 2013 | 19 February 2013 | 11 March 2013[47][48] DVD & Blu-ray | 20 December 2013[49] DVD only |
| ||
| 2 | 6 | 14 July 2014 | 12 August 2014 | 18 August 2014[52] Blu-ray in Germany only 26 June 2015[53] | TBA | Deleted Scenes | ||
| Utopia (Original Television Soundtrack) | |
|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by Cristobal Tapia de Veer | |
| Released | 7 October 2013 |
| Label | Silva Screen Music |
The seriessoundtrack was composed byCristobal Tapia de Veer.[54] The album entitledUtopia (Original Television Soundtrack) was released 7 October 2013, on bothCD andMP3 download by Silva Screen Music. In August 2014 a contest was announced on Facebook to create a remix of the "Utopia Overture".
Cristobal Tapia De Veer announced via Twitter that the Series 2 soundtrack was coming 8 December. It was then released that day, and is now available on majormusic streaming services. It is also available for purchase as a CD/DVD, as well as on vinyl.
In February 2014,HBO ordered an American adaptation ofUtopia, to be co-created and directed byDavid Fincher, withGillian Flynn as the writer.[55] Fincher planned to direct all episodes of the series, and said "I like the characters – I love Dennis’s honesty and affinity for the nerds."[56] In June 2015, it was announced thatRooney Mara was negotiating for the role of Jessica Hyde.[57] On 30 July 2015, it was reported that the series would not go into production because of budget disputes between Fincher and HBO, and that the cast had been released from their contracts.[58] After HBO lost rights to the project,Amazon ordered a nine-episode first season directly on 19 April 2018, with Flynn said to adapt the project from the original.[59]
The American adaptation was released onAmazon Prime Video on 25 September 2020 and was created by Gillian Flynn.[60][61]
