David Farnor | On 08, Feb 2024

Michael Sheen, James Graham and Adam Curtis are teaming up for BBC drama The Way, and a new trailer gives us a first look at the series ahead of its debut this month.

Ambitious, powerful and surprising, the three-part drama imagines a family caught up in a civil uprising that begins in their small industrial town. Fleeing unrest, the Driscolls are forced to escape the country they’ve always called home and the certainties of their old lives. Will they be overwhelmed by their memories of the past, or will they lay their ghosts to rest and take the risk of an unknown future? With wit and powerful emotion, The Way taps into the chaos of today’s world through the fictional story of an ordinary family caught up in an extraordinary chain of events.
M
ade by Red Seam for the BBC in association with Little Door Productions, The Way is written by James Graham, directed by Michael Sheen in his directorial debut for television, and is produced by Derek Ritchie. Co-creators Adam Curtis, James Graham and Michael Sheen join Bethan Jones as executive producers for Red Seam, with Rebecca Ferguson for the BBC and Nick Andrews for BBC Cymru Wales.

The series will be available in full on BBC iPlayer from 6am on Monday 19th February and will air weekly on BBC One from 9pm that night.

 

The Way: Michael Sheen, James Graham and Adam Curtis team up for BBC drama

18th February 2023

Michael Sheen, James Graham and Adam Curtis are teaming up for The Way, a new drama for the BBC.

The three-part series taps into the social and political chaos of today’s world by imagining a civil uprising that begins in a small industrial town. Meet the Driscolls – an ordinary family, in an extraordinary story of life, death and survival. Caught in a chain of events and power struggles that ripple out unleashing civil unrest, they are forced to escape the country they’ve always called home and the certainties of their old lives. Will they be overwhelmed by their memories of the past, or will the Driscolls lay their ghosts to rest and take the risk of an unknown future?

Co-created by Sheen, James Graham (Sherwood, Quiz) and Adam Curtis (The Power Of Nightmares, HyperNormalisation), and developed and executive produced by Bethan Jones (War & Peace, Les Miserables), it is written by Graham, directed by Sheen in his directorial debut for TV and produced by Derek Ritchie (The Capture, Luther).

It is Wales-based company Red Seam’s first production, made in association with Little Door Productions, and will film in and around Port Talbot.

Sheen says: “I’m such an admirer of Adam and James’ work, so to create this project with them in these extraordinary times has been thrilling. I’m so excited to be telling this global story through the prism of my hometown and its community as we dig into the rollercoaster ride of our recent past and the mysterious depths that lay beneath.”

Curtis adds: “This is a really timely way to examine one of the great puzzles of this moment – why is it so hard to imagine a better, or even just different, kind of future for this country? What is holding us back? I can’t think of two more amazing people to do that with than James and Michael.”

Production will begin later this year.

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