Babylon - Introduction

Danny Boyle’s pilot episode kicked in our front doors and tasered us in both the brain and the funny bone back in February. Now Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong’s deliciously caustic and multi-layered drama Babylon is back for a six-part series this November on Channel 4.
Welcome to London’s police force, with accusations of racism, the use of lethal force, and corruption all part of the daily routine.  Luckily for the public, the capital city has the charismatic but uncompromising Commissioner Richard Miller (James Nesbitt) at the helm, the man with the impossible job of keeping the capital safe
But Miller has a secret weapon. Director of Communications Liz Garvey (Brit Marling) is a high-flying PR whizz from America, who’s aim is to revolutionise the image of the police by dragging it into the new media age and throwing the doors open.  In an era where everyone with a phone is a cameraman, and crime is being reported on 24 hour rolling news before the police have received a 999 call, controlling the news agenda isn’t easy. Particularly when your Communications deputy is the Machiavellian Finn (Bertie Carvel), who’s more used to trading stories with journalists over boozy lunches, and is determined to build the fortress walls higher.  If that means bringing down the person who got what should have been his job, so be it…
Among Miller’s other (purported) colleagues overseeing the city’s streets from police HQ are Deputy Commissioner Charles Inglis (Paterson Joseph) and Assistant Commissioner Sharon Franklin (Nicola Walker), both with half an eye on the top job. And then there’s Tom Oliver (Jonny Sweet), Miller’s loyal but faux pas prone assistant.
If life is tough in the rarefied atmosphere at the top, it’s not much easier for the police on the streets below. Public Order Specialists Davina (Jill Halfpenny) and Clarkey (Cavan Clerkin) find their personal lives spilling over into the riot van; and in the Armed Response Unit, Tony (Stuart Martin) and Banjo (Andrew Brooke) must contend with the increasingly fragile emotional state of Warwick (Nick Blood), still reeling from shooting an unarmed man. And if the gun squad didn’t have enough to deal with, Robbie (Adam Deacon) moves closer to his dream of being a Firearms Officer – an eventuality to strike fear into all that know him. And, as ever, the quiet presence of documentary director Matt (Daniel Kaluuya) is lurking, filming, just waiting for the chance to capture an expose that will stun both police and public alike.
Jon S. Baird (Filth) directs episodes 1-3, with award-winning newcomer Sally El Hosaini (My Brother the Devil) directing episodes 4-6. BAFTA-winner Jon Brown (Misfits, Fresh Meat) joins the writing team for two episodes.
Babylon is created and exec produced by Danny Boyle, Robert Jones (The Usual Suspects, Dirty Pretty Things), Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain, and produced by Jones and Derrin Schlesinger (This Is England ’86, Four Lions, Southcliffe).