Series 1

Series 1

Genre	Period Drama
Created by	Tom Hardy Chips Hardy Steven Knight
Written by	Steven Knight Chips Hard Emily Ballou
Directed by	Kristoffer Nyholm Anders Engström
Starring	Taboo/Full Cast & Crew
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original Language(s)	English
Production
Producer(s)	Taboo/Full Cast & Crew
Running time	60 minutes
Production company(s)	Scott Free Productions Hardy Son & Baker
Distributor	Sonar Entertainment
Release
Original network(s)	BBC One (UK) ; FX (US)
Next	Series 2

Series 1 of period drama Taboo premiered on January 7, 2017 on BBC One in the United Kingdom and on January 10, 2017 on FX in the United States.

Synopsis[]

Set in 1814, the first season follows James Keziah Delaney (Hardy), a man who has been to the ends of the earth and comes back irrevocably changed. Believed to be long dead, he returns home to London from Africa to inherit what is left of his father’s shipping empire and rebuild a life for himself. But his father’s legacy is a poisoned chalice, and with enemies lurking in every dark corner, James must navigate increasingly complex territories to avoid his own death sentence. Encircled by conspiracy, murder, and betrayal, a dark family mystery unfolds in a combustible tale of love and treachery.^[1]

Cast[]

Starring[]

Recurring[]

Nicholas Woodeson as Robert Thoyt
Franka Potente as Helga von Hinten
Richard Dixon as John Pettifer
Ruby-May Martinwood as Winter
Marina Hands as Countess Musgrove
Lucian Msamati as George Chichester
Louis Serkis as Robert
Christopher Fairbank as Ibbotson
Danny Ligairi as Martinez
Scroobius Pip as French Bill
Edward Fox as Horace Delaney
Tallulah Rose Haddon as Pearl
Roger Ashton-Griffiths as Abraham Appleby

Episodes[]

No.	Title	Writer	Director	Airdate
1	"Episode 1"	Steven Knight	Kristoffer Nyholm	January 7, 2017 (UK) January 10, 2017 (US)
1	James Delaney returns to 1814 London after 10 years in Africa to claim a mysterious legacy left to him by his father.
2	"Episode 2"	Steven Knight	Kristoffer Nyholm	January 14, 2017 (UK) January 17, 2017 (US)
2	As James Delaney assembles his league of the damned; an unexpected arrival threatens to disrupt his plans.
3	"Episode 3"	Steven Knight	Kristoffer Nyholm	January 21, 2017 (UK) January 24, 2017 (US)
3	James Delaney decides to take radical action in order to safeguard himself from those intent on his demise.
4	"Episode 4"	Steven Knight & Emily Ballou	Kristoffer Nyholm	January 28, 2017 (UK) January 31, 2017 (US)
4	Blacklisted, James Delaney sets out to protect his business by any means necessary.
5	"Episode 5"	Steven Knight & Ben Hervey	Anders Engström	February 4, 2017 (UK) February 7, 2017 (US)
5	James Delaney is blackmailed into a dangerous mission, whilst animosity between the Crown and Company escalates to a new level.
6	"Episode 6"	Chips Hardy & Steven Knight	Anders Engström	February 11, 2017 (UK) February 14, 2017 (US)
6	War is declared on James while a family revelation rocks him to the core.
7	"Episode 7"	Steven Knight	Anders Engström	February 18, 2017 (UK) February 21, 2017 (US)
7	James faces a betrayal that jeopardizes his freedom and gives his enemies a big opportunity.
8	"Episode 8"	Steven Knight	Anders Engström	February 25, 2017 (UK) February 28, 2017 (US)
8	James plans his escape while Prince Regent makes a final push to destroy him.

Production[]

The first series cost 10 million pounds. Tom Hardy earned over £500K from Taboo despite supernatural thriller making a loss of £2million. The Georgian period drama was a highly-anticipated release for 2017, but failed to win over many critics. ^[2]

Tom Hardy revealed that he wanted to film some scenes fully nude but was forced to put on a loin cloth, explaining, "You're lucky there was a loin cloth because I didn't want one. It's not a period drama until someone gets naked and covers themselves in blood. You can't have naughtiness like Game of Thrones on the BBC." Even so, Hardy did film some scenes with full frontal nudity and some of these filming pictures were leaked in the media but all such scenes were cut from the final edit of the show. ^[3]

The language spoken by Tom Hardy is Twi, a dialect of the Akan people. It originates from the West African country of Ghana. Twi is still widely spoken and arguably the most spoken native language in Ghana. The program was advised on the language by Naomi Fletcher, Anthnoy Dwomo and Akwasi Amponsah from The Cultural Group. ^[4]

Supernatural[]

The series plays with allegedly supernatural occurrences.

Amongst these, are alleged ghost sightings. At the end of the first episode, a woman resembling Anna Delaney can be seen behind John Pettifer and Benjamin Wilton. ^[5] In Episode 2, a ghostly figure spotted on the below deck of the ship. Once again, a ghostly figure is partially visible behind Ibbotson in the sixth episode, when the man, terrified by symbols carved at the gunpowder's factory, fled to confess to a priest.

In the course of the series, James Delaney was often seen in the act of carrying out rituals that foreshadowed a strong occult and supernatural connotation. During an interview, Tom Hardy has denied the supernatural component as real, by stating it was the way that the authors have chosen to tell their story, and cope with James Delaney's post-traumatic stress once returned from Africa. ^[6]

Release[]

Taboo was broadcast first in the UK every Saturday on BBC One then in North America on Tuesdays only on FX. The Complete First Series DVD box set was released on May 29th, 2017.

Reception[]

BBC One drama Taboo was the big winner at the 2017 RTS Craft and Design Awards, nominated in six categories, including Costume Design, Drama, Make-Up Design, Drama, Music, Original Title, Production Design, Drama, Sound, Drama and Design, Trails & Packaging. ^[7]

The Scott Free London and Hardy, Son and Baker-produced series won for Costume Design in a Drama (Joanna Eatwell), Make-Up Design in a Drama (Erika Okvist, Jan Archibald, and Audrey Doyle) and Sound in a Drama. ^[8]

Trivia[]

The first series of Taboo marks the acting debut of ex professional rugby player Danny Ligairi.
Oona Chaplin, Jonathan Pryce, Roger Ashton-Griffiths, Mark Gatiss, Lucian Msamati, Tim Plester and Nicholas Blane all had roles on the HBO series, Game of Thrones.
Jonathan Pryce, Stephen Graham and Tom Hollander all appeared in many films of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.