Hot Picks: The Cage

“The Cage is an emotionally charged crime drama that is a total spin on anything you’ve seen before,” says Rebecca Dundon, senior vice-president, head of scripted commercial, C&I and global drama at Fremantle.

Starring Sheridan Smith (Cilla; I Fought The Law) and Michael Socha (The Gallows Pole; Showtrial) as Leanne and Matty, The Cage is a high-stakes story following two Liverpool casino workers who discover they are both stealing from their employer’s safe. This realisation puts their lives on a collision course with each other, the local gangster they’re stealing from and the police.

The central relationship between Leanne and Matty sets the drama apart from similar fare on the market, Dundon says. “This series explores the relationship between our two protagonists – it’s a male and female relationship that we haven’t seen for a while, a platonic friendship with heart and warmth,” she explains.

“The crime happens very early on in the series and you are watching Matty and Leanne trying to get out and finding it’s a much deeper crime than they ever thought possible. That is part of the joy of the series: you have two people who are probably in the wrong place at the wrong time, and they’ve acted in the wrong way, but it’s not malicious. How do they get out when everything is against them? That feels very fresh.”

While it still packs the punch of a crime thriller, Dundon says, The Cage achieves a lighter tone than many of its peers by centring on love, family, friendship and community, and encouraging viewers to root for the underdog central pair.

The Cage is the second series to be penned by Tony Schumacher, who hit the ground running with his debut creation The Responder, which is also in Fremantle’s portfolio. While both programmes feature the police, a Liverpool setting and a characterdriven story, they have little else in common, says Dundon.

“Tony’s approach to character is unlike any I’ve ever seen before,” she says. “He offers fresh characters, fresh perspectives and really pushes the boundary. The Responder continues to be a key driver for us in our catalogue, but this is a very different show. They shouldn’t be compared because it’s a different precinct with very different characters. They exist in complementary and different spaces, and they push the crime genre in totally different ways.”

Director of BBC Drama Lindsay Salt, who commissioned The Cage, says she knew from the first script that Schumacher had delivered “something special and unique”.

She continues: “The Cage has two iconic, unforgettable leads, and manages the feat of being both hugely entertaining while having a lot to say about the world in which we live.

“Tony has created this edge-ofyour- seat drama with a fascinating peek behind the curtain of the world of casinos. It is also packed full of heart, as Tony’s work always is.”

Fremantle is in early sales conversations, but Dundon is coy about with whom. However, she predicts buyers in Australia, the US and Europe are “going to want to look at this immediately”.

She adds: “It’s a broad, mainstream show at its heart, so it has that ability to play out for all of the PSBs, but also some of the pay-TV partners. I think it’s going to find a home with quite a lot of players.”