Messiah (TV series)
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Messiah is a British television drama series, broadcast on the BBC One network and produced in-house by BBC Northern Ireland, although the series itself is set in England. Made up of a series of occasional serials, the first, subtitled The First Killings, was broadcast in 2001. It has been followed by Messiah 2: Vengeance is Mine (2003), Messiah III: The Promise (2004) and most recently Messiah IV: The Harrowing (2005). The original production was based on a novel by Boris Starling: the subsequent instalments have been written directly for television. Starling has a cameo as a murder victim's corpse in the first serial.
A crime series, it follows the investigations of DCI Red Metcalfe, who often investigates particularly gruesome murders. Metcalfe is played by Scottish actor Ken Stott, and the other main regulars in the series are Kate Beauchamp (Frances Grey), Duncan Warren (Neil Dudgeon) and Metcalfe's wife Susan (Michelle Forbes). The deafness of Forbes' character necessitated both her and Stott learning British Sign Language for their characters' frequent exchanges.
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[edit] The series
Messiah, strictly speaking, relates only to the original series, where a serial killer sets out to kill twelve (actually eleven) men with the same names as the apostles, in the same way that the original apostles were killed, eg. St Bartholomew was skinned and St Peter was crucified upside down. The killer does this because he believes himself immortal, a second Messiah.
Messiah 2: Vengeance Is Mine deals with a serial killer (female) who murders all those implicated in the wrongful imprisonment of her father.
Messiah III: The Promise begins with a prison riot, in which Kate Beauchamp is held hostage and almost killed. The action moves on to a hospital where those injured in the riot are being treated. From then on, everyone who threatened or harmed Beauchamp ends up dead.
Messiah IV: The Harrowing deals with Metcalf and his team having to catch a killer who murders his or her victims in elaborate / strange ways. The killings are based on The Divine Comedy by Dante.
[edit] Cast overview
Kieran O'Brien .... Eric Metcalfe
Juliet Diamond .... Charlotte
Ken Stott .... D.C.I. Redfern 'Red' Metcalfe
Tony Lucken .... Philip Blake
Frances Grey .... D.S. Kate Beauchamp
Serena Gordon .... Alison Reeves
Jamie Draven .... D.S. Jez Clifton
Howard Crossley .... D.C. Freeman
Raymond Trickitt .... D.C. Nixon
Ernie Cooke .... Bishop James Perch
Neil Dudgeon .... D.I. Duncan Warren
Art Malik .... D.C.S. Emerson
Michelle Forbes .... Susan Metcalfe
Piers Houlin .... Artist in Gallery
[edit] Alternate ending
In Boris Starling's novel, just as in the TV adaptation, Red is attacked by Jez in his flat. However, in the book, Red manages to haul Jez over the bannister, and they both crash to the floor. With Jez injured, Red strips him and crucifies him across a doorway, in an act of poetic justice (if Jez thought he was Christ, then he should die like him). Red then hands himself in to the police, with DS Beauchamp and is sent to prison. Though bleaker, this ending correlates with the tone of Starling's book. By the end, Red's marriage to Susan (who, in the book, is not deaf) has collapsed and the case has driven him to near madness.
[edit] Writers
The first Messiah TV was scripted by Boris Starling and Lizzie Mickery. Mickery wrote Messiah 2 and 3 on her own, and Messiah IV was written by Terry Cafolla.
[edit] Adverts
The Messiah series have typically used famous pieces of classical music on their adverts. For Messiah 2, they used Carl Orff's Fortune plango vulnera, and his O Fortuna for Messiah 3 (they are the first two pieces of Orff's Carmina Burana). For the Messiah IV trails, they used Agnes Dei, by Samuel Barber.
[edit] Broadcast dates
Messiah was first broadcast over Easter weekend (starting May 26th) 2001. Messiah 2 was originally scheduled for August 24th and 25th 2002, but was pulled at the last moment because of the Soham Murders. It was eventually shown in 2003. Messiah 3 was shown on August 30th and 31st 2004. Messiah IV was split into three episodes (the others had been shown in two), starting on August 28th 2005.
