The Outlaws (2021 TV series)

Last updated

The Outlaws
The Outlaws.jpg
Genre Dark comedy
Crime drama
Thriller
Created by Elgin James
Stephen Merchant
Directed byStephen Merchant
John Butler
Starring
Music by Dan Jones
Stew Jackson
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series3
No. of episodes17
Production
Executive producers
  • Stephen Merchant
  • Luke Alkin
  • Kenton Allen
  • Matthew Justice
  • Kate Daughton
ProducerNickie Sault
Production companies
Original release
Network Amazon Prime Video
BBC One
Release25 October 2021 (2021-10-25) 
present

The Outlaws is a crime thriller comedy television series created by Elgin James and Stephen Merchant, and directed by Merchant and John Butler. It is shown on BBC One and iPlayer in the UK and Amazon Prime Video in some international territories. Filming of series 1 was halted in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In January 2021 it was confirmed that a second series had been ordered, with series 1 production resuming in February 2021. It was later confirmed that both series had been filmed back to back. [1] A third series began airing on BBC One in May 2024.

Contents

Plot

The story follows seven strangers from different walks of life who are forced together to complete a Community Payback sentence, set in Bristol. [2] However, their luck changes – not necessarily for the better – when they discover a bag full of money, unaware that its true owners are very dangerous.

Cast

Episodes

SeriesEpisodesOriginally aired
First airedLast aired
1625 October 202129 November 2021
265 June 202210 July 2022
3530 May 202431 May 2024

Series 1 (2021)

No.TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air date [3] U.K. viewers
(millions)
1Episode 1 Stephen Merchant Stephen Merchant and Elgin James 25 October 2021 (2021-10-25)<(3.11)
2Episode 2Stephen MerchantStephen Merchant and Emma Jane Unsworth 1 November 2021 (2021-11-01)4.22
3Episode 3 John Butler Stephen Merchant and Nikita Lalwani 8 November 2021 (2021-11-08)3.43
4Episode 4John ButlerJohn Butler15 November 2021 (2021-11-15)<(3.23)
5Episode 5John ButlerStephen Merchant22 November 2021 (2021-11-22)<(3.23)
6Episode 6Stephen MerchantStephen Merchant29 November 2021 (2021-11-29)<(3.50)

Series 2 (2022)

No.TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air date [3] U.K. viewers
(millions)
7Episode 1 John Butler Stephen Merchant 5 June 2022 (2022-06-05)2.96
8Episode 2John ButlerNathaniel Price12 June 2022 (2022-06-12)<(2.63)
9Episode 3Alicia MacDonaldStephen Merchant and Nikita Lalwani 19 June 2022 (2022-06-19)<(2.35)
10Episode 4Alicia MacDonaldClaire Downes26 June 2022 (2022-06-26)<(2.29)
11Episode 5Alicia MacDonaldJohn Butler3 July 2022 (2022-07-03)2.13
12Episode 6Alicia MacDonaldStephen Merchant10 July 2022 (2022-07-10)2.33

Series 3 (2024)

No.TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air date [3] U.K. viewers
(millions)
13Episode 1 John Butler John Butler30 May 2024 (2024-05-30)TBD
14Episode 2John ButlerNathaniel Price30 May 2024 (2024-05-30)TBD
15Episode 3Curtis Vowell Nikita Lalwani & Jess Bray30 May 2024 (2024-05-30)TBD
16Episode 4Curtis VowellNathaniel Price30 May 2024 (2024-05-30)TBD
17Episode 5Curtis Vowell Stephen Merchant & Jessica Gunning 30 May 2024 (2024-05-30)TBD

Production

The series is a co-production between BBC One and Amazon Studios. The series was commissioned by BBC Comedy and BBC One, and produced by Big Talk with Stephen Merchant's Four Eyes. The series is created by Stephen Merchant and Elgin James. Executive producers are Stephen Merchant for Four Eyes; and Luke Alkin, Kenton Allen, and Matthew Justice for Big Talk. Kate Daughton is the Commissioning Editor for the BBC. Directors are Stephen Merchant and John Butler. Producer is Nickie Sault. [4]

After some delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic, filming on location in Bristol began in February 2021, as well as at The Bottle Yard Studios in Whitchurch. [5] Originally announced with the working title The Offenders, the series was renamed during production, with the new title confirmed in September 2021. Series one and two were filmed back-to-back. [6] A small piece of Banksy's art was used on set. [7]

A third series was confirmed to be in production by the BBC in March 2023. [8] In May 2023, production crew and cast were seen filming in the Bristol Harbour area, and in Clifton, Bristol, [9] as well as the seafront at Weston-super-Mare. [10] Tomlinson confirmed in an interview on The One Show in November 2023 that filming on series three had been completed.

Broadcast

The series premiered on BBC One and BBC iPlayer in the UK on 25 October 2021; it was later released on Amazon Prime Video in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Nordic countries. [11]

Series 2 was released in full on BBC iPlayer on 5 June 2022. [12]

The third series is available from 30 May 2024. [13]

Accolades

On 9 January 2023 the show received a nomination at the Comedy.co.uk Awards 2022 in the Best Comedy Drama Series category. [14] On 23 January 2023 Merchant received a nomination in the Outstanding Comedy Actor category at the National Comedy Awards 2023. [15] The soundtrack composed by Stew Jackson and Dan Jones was nominated for the Best Television Soundtrack Ivor Novello Award. [16]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ricky Gervais</span> English comedian (born 1961)

Ricky Dene Gervais is an English comedian, actor, writer, producer, and director. He co-created, co-wrote, and acted in the British television sitcoms The Office (2001–2003), Extras (2005–2007), and Life's Too Short (2011–2013) with Stephen Merchant. He also created, wrote and starred in Derek (2012–2014) and After Life (2019–2022).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Haley Joel Osment</span> American actor (born 1988)

Haley Joel Osment is an American actor. Beginning his career as a child actor, Osment's role in the comedy-drama film Forrest Gump (1994) won him a Young Artist Award. His breakthrough came with the psychological thriller film The Sixth Sense (1999), which won him a Saturn Award and earned him nominations for an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award. He achieved further success with the drama film Pay It Forward (2000), the science fiction film A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001) which won him a second Saturn Award, the comedy film Secondhand Lions (2003) which won him a Critics Choice Award, and the animated film The Jungle Book 2 (2003). He has voiced Sora in the Kingdom Hearts video game franchise since 2002, and voiced Vanitas in the same franchise from 2010 to 2020.

<i>Birds of a Feather</i> (TV series) British television sitcom

Birds of a Feather is a British sitcom originally broadcast on BBC One from 16 October 1989 to 24 December 1998, then revived on ITV from 2 January 2014 to 24 December 2020. The series stars Pauline Quirke and Linda Robson, with Lesley Joseph. It was created by Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran, who also wrote many of the episodes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephen Merchant</span> English comedian, actor, director and writer (born 1974)

Stephen James Merchant is an English comedian, actor, director, and writer. He was the co-writer and co-director of the British TV comedy series The Office (2001–2003), and co-writer, co-director, and co-star of both Extras (2005–2007) and Life's Too Short (2011–2013) alongside Ricky Gervais. With Gervais and Karl Pilkington, he hosted The Ricky Gervais Show in its radio, podcast, audiobook, and television formats; the radio version won a bronze Sony Award. He also provided the voice of the robotic "Intelligence Dampening Sphere" Wheatley in the 2011 video game Portal 2. Merchant co-developed the Sky One travel documentary series An Idiot Abroad (2010–2012) and co-created Lip Sync Battle (2015–2019).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephen Mangan</span> English actor (born 1968)

Stephen James Mangan is an English actor, comedian, presenter and writer. He has played Guy Secretan in Green Wing, Dan Moody in I'm Alan Partridge, Seán Lincoln in Episodes, Bigwig in Watership Down, Postman Pat in Postman Pat: The Movie, Richard Pitt in Hang Ups, Andrew in Bliss (2018), and Nathan Stern in The Split (2018–2022).

<i>Not Going Out</i> British TV sitcom

Not Going Out is a British television sitcom that has aired on BBC One since 2006 and is the second-longest-running British sitcom, behind Last of the Summer Wine. Series 1 starred Lee Mack, Tim Vine and Megan Dodds; as of Series 13, the main cast are Mack, Sally Bretton, Deborah Grant, Geoffrey Whitehead, Hugh Dennis, and Abigail Cruttenden.

Life's Too Short is a British mockumentary sitcom, created and written by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant and starring Warwick Davis, about "the life of a showbiz dwarf." Davis plays a fictionalised version of himself, and both Gervais and Merchant appear in supporting roles as themselves. The show began airing on BBC Two on 10 November 2011. Premium cable channel HBO, which co-produced the series with the BBC, has the US rights and aired the series from 19 February 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phoebe Dynevor</span> English actress (born 1995)

Phoebe Harriet Dynevor is an English actress. On television, she is best known for her role as Daphne, the fourth Bridgerton child, in the Netflix period drama Bridgerton (2020–2022). Her films include The Colour Room (2021), Bank of Dave (2023), and Fair Play (2023). She earned a BAFTA Rising Star Award nomination in 2024.

<i>Mrs. Browns Boys</i> Irish television sitcom

Mrs. Brown's Boys is a British-Irish television sitcom created by and starring Brendan O'Carroll and produced in the United Kingdom by BBC and BBC Studios in partnership with BOC-PIX and Irish broadcaster RTÉ.

<i>Doctor Who</i> season 24 Season of television series

The twenty-fourth season of British science fiction television series Doctor Who began on 7 September 1987 with Sylvester McCoy's first story Time and the Rani, and ended with Dragonfire. John Nathan-Turner produced the series, with Andrew Cartmel script editing.

<i>Call the Midwife</i> BBC period drama series (2012-present)

Call the Midwife is a British period drama television series about a group of nurse midwives working in the East End of London in the late 1950s and 1960s. The principal cast of the show has included Jessica Raine, Miranda Hart, Helen George, Bryony Hannah, Laura Main, Jenny Agutter, Pam Ferris, Judy Parfitt, Cliff Parisi, Stephen McGann, Ben Caplan, Daniel Laurie, Emerald Fennell, Victoria Yeates, Jack Ashton, Linda Bassett, Charlotte Ritchie, Kate Lamb, Jennifer Kirby, Annabelle Apsion and Leonie Elliott.

The Bottle Yard Studios is a British film and television production studio facility in Bristol, South West England. It is the largest dedicated production space in the West of England. As of November 2022, it has offered a total of 11 stages across two sites.

<i>Letterkenny</i> (TV series) Canadian television sitcom created by Jared Keeso

Letterkenny is a Canadian television sitcom created by Jared Keeso and directed by Jacob Tierney, both of whom are also its developers and primary writers. It premiered via Crave on February 7, 2016, and concluded on December 25, 2023. The series follows the adventures of people residing in the fictional rural Ontario community of Letterkenny and stars Keeso, Nathan Dales, Michelle Mylett, and K. Trevor Wilson.

<i>Mum</i> (TV series) British television series

Mum is a British sitcom written by Stefan Golaszewski that centred on the recently widowed, suburban 59-year-old Cathy and her family, following her husband's death, airing on BBC Two from 2016-2019. Each episode is named after a calendar month in the year, except series three which is set over just one week. The series features Cathy's supportive lifelong friend, Michael, and her family: son Jason and his girlfriend, Kelly; Cathy's brother, Derek, and his new partner, Pauline; and Cathy's in-laws.

<i>The Young Offenders</i> (TV series) Television series

The Young Offenders is an Irish coming-of-age television sitcom, developed by Peter Foott, for RTÉ and BBC Three. Based on the IFTA-winning 2016 film of the same name, the first series began broadcasting on 1 February 2018, to generally favourable reviews. The series follows the lives of Conor MacSweeney and Jock O'Keeffe, lovable rogues from Cork.

<i>Upload</i> (TV series) American science fiction comedy-drama television series

Upload is an American science fiction comedy-drama television series created by Greg Daniels. The series premiered on May 1, 2020, on Amazon Prime Video and was renewed for a second season. The second season premiered on March 11, 2022; it had seven episodes, three fewer than the first. In May 2022, the series was renewed for a third season, which premiered on October 20, 2023 and consists of eight episodes. In March 2024, the series was renewed for a fourth and final season.

<i>Alex Rider</i> (TV series) 2020 British spy thriller television series

Alex Rider is a British spy thriller television series based on the novel series of the same name by Anthony Horowitz. Adapted by Guy Burt, it stars Otto Farrant as the eponymous character, who is recruited by a subdivision of MI6 as a teenage spy to infiltrate places that others are unable to. The series is Amazon's first scripted British Amazon Original series. The show is jointly produced by Eleventh Hour Films and Sony Pictures Television, and is the second screen adaptation of the novels, following the 2006 feature film version of the first novel, Stormbreaker.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phil Dunster</span> British actor

Philip James Dunster is an English actor. He is known for his roles in the Sky One drama Strike Back (2017–2018), the Channel 4 science fiction series Humans (2018), the ITV comedy-drama The Trouble with Maggie Cole (2020), the Apple TV+ sports series Ted Lasso (2020–2023), and the Amazon Prime thriller The Devil's Hour (2022). For his role in Ted Lasso, Dunster was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series in 2023.

Rhianne Gabrielle H. Barreto is a British actress. Her work includes the film Share (2019), the ITV drama Honour (2020), and the BBC One series The Outlaws (2021–).

Gamba Cole is a British actor. He is known for his appearance in the British television series The Outlaws.

References

  1. Kanter, Jake (13 January 2021). "Stephen Merchant's BBC/Amazon Series 'The Offenders' Renewed For Second Season". deadline.com. Retrieved 12 December 2021.
  2. Wall, Tom (11 December 2021). "Why TV crews are falling over each other to film drama in 'Bristolywood'". The Observer. Retrieved 14 December 2021.
  3. 1 2 3 "The Outlaws on BBC One". BBC One . Retrieved 25 October 2021.
  4. "Cast for Stephen Merchant's The Offenders (w/t) announced as filming resumes in Bristol - Media Centre". bbc.co.uk. 12 May 2021. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
  5. "Coming soon: TV shows filmed in Bristol". Visit Bristol. 11 February 2021. Retrieved 12 December 2021.
  6. "First Look at Stephen Merchant's BBC One series the Outlaws". BBC. 13 September 2021. Retrieved 12 December 2021.
  7. "Banksy art painted over by Christopher Walken on TV show's set". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 30 November 2021.
  8. Richardson, Jay (31 March 2023). "The Outlaws returning to BBC One for Series 3". Comedy.Co.UK. Retrieved 31 March 2023.
  9. Lilleywhite, Maisie (15 May 2023). "BBC The Outlaws cast spotted filming at Bristol Harbour ahead of third season". Bristol Post. Retrieved 16 May 2023.
  10. Hill, Amber (17 May 2023). "Creator of The Outlaws confirms Weston will feature in new series". Weston Mercury. Retrieved 18 May 2023.
  11. "BBC One announces Stephen Merchant's The Offenders (w/t) from Big Talk and Four Eyes - Media Centre". BBC. 6 January 2020. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
  12. The Outlaws - Series 2: Episode 1, BBC iPlayer, retrieved 6 June 2022
  13. Kendall, Ellie (30 April 2024). "Bristol-filmed The Outlaws returns for third series". Bristol Post. Retrieved 1 May 2024.
  14. "Comedy.co.uk Awards 2022 shortlist". Comedy.co.uk. 9 January 2023.
  15. "National Comedy Awards 2023 shortlists revealed". Chortle.
  16. Flynn, Tilly (7 April 2022). "Nominations announced for The Ivors 2022". The Ivors Academy. Retrieved 29 May 2024.