Country of origin United Kingdom
Canada No. of episodes 6 Running time 60mins (inc. adverts) | No. of series 1 Executive producer(s) David Morrissey | |
Starring David Morrissey
Eddie Marsan
Aidan Gillen
Natascha McElhone
Sandra Oh
O-T Fagbenle | ||
Thorne, a television drama series which debuted on Sky1 in the UK on 10 October 2010, is based on crime writer Mark Billingham's novels. The series stars David Morrissey in the title role of Detective Inspector Tom Thorne, and includes Aidan Gillen, Eddie Marsan, and Natascha McElhone as supporting cast members.
Contents
Production
As well as the lead role of the series, Morrissey is executive producer. He describes how he became involved as follows:
I was doing a film in New Zealand, on my own, in winter. I really needed a book. I stumbled across a Thorne novel, liked it, and then I looked up Mark online and found a question-and-answer session where he said that if his books ever made it to the screen, he’d like David Morrissey to play the lead. I thought, "That’s a good start".
The series of six episodes comprised two, three-part, dramatizations of the first two Thorne novels. In the first three-parter, Sleepyhead, Thorne has to track down and stop a serial killer who aims to leave his victims alive but unable to communicate because of locked-in syndrome. The second is Scaredy Cat, which features two serial killers apparently working in tandem.
The makers of the series stated in 2010 a desire to eventually film all ten Thorne novels. In February 2011, David Morrissey stated that he was set to star in and produce another series of Thorne. However, in his Christmas 2012 newsletter, Thorne author Mark Billingham stated that Morrissey's success in The Walking Dead has suspended plans for a further Thorne novels to be serialized. As of 2015, no other comments have been made about a possible second series.
Adaptation
As with other TV/film adaptations, there are many differences between the books and the television series. In the books, Brigstocke is a man (Russell Brigstocke); Dave Holland is not black; and Phil Hendricks is a tall, bald, heavily pierced, heavily tattooed Mancunian, not a short, partly tattooed Irishman with a full head of hair.
Structure
The first three episodes were known as Thorne: Sleepyhead and the latter three episodes were under the banner Thorne: Scaredy Cat.
Main cast
Sleepyhead
Scaredy Cat
British Film Institute preview
The first three episodes of the series, comprising a dramatization of Billingham's first Thorne novel Sleepyhead, directed by Stephen Hopkins, were previewed at the BFI Southbank in London on 4 October 2010. This was followed by a Q&A session featuring writer Mark Billingham and actors David Morrissey and Eddie Marsan.
Reception
Running on a Sunday evening in the prime 2100 slot on satellite against strong terrestrial competition from the popular Julian Fellowes' period drama series Downton Abbey, the first episode of four-part drama Single Father starring David Tennant, and a reshowing of the Dan Brown thriller The Da Vinci Code, the show drew 402,000 viewers and 1.5% audience share, according to preliminary BARB figures.
Reviews have been positive, and currently holds a score of 74/100, on aggregate review site Metacritic. In a television review in The Independent on Monday 11 October 2010, after the first episode was broadcast, Tom Sutcliffe wrote approvingly, particularly of the direction of Stephen Hopkins, "who keeps using his camera to catch Thorne from incriminating angles, as if he's a perpetrator not a policeman", and the performances of Morrissey and McElhone. In The Scotsman, Andrea Mullaney praised the efforts made by BSkyB in the production and casting but added "But it's a shame that our best actors can't be used for anything more radical or real." Adam Sweeting at the independent online arts magazine The Arts Desk wrote "Despite the hype it's just another cop show full of corpses, but Morrissey feels authentic as the phlegmatic, low-key Thorne", but criticised the romantic link between Morrissey and McElhone: "It was like Vinnie Jones getting off with Joanna Lumley".
U.S. airing
On 10 May 2012, Encore issued a press release announcing that the network would air Thorne: Sleepyhead and Thorne: Scaredy Cat on 12 June 2012 and 13 June 2012, respectively.
Release
Both Sleepyhead and Scaredycat were released together on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on 10 January 2011. You can see all the episodes, "Sleepy Head" and "Scaredy Cat", on Netflix, USA. Reviews state that the quality of the show on DVD and Blu-ray were 'great'.