The Missing (TV series)

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The Missing
File:The Missing UK title card.jpg
Genre Psychological drama
Mystery
Thriller
Created by Harry Williams
Jack Williams
Written by Harry Williams
Jack Williams
Directed by Tom Shankland
Starring James Nesbitt
Frances O'Connor
Ken Stott
Jason Flemyng
Arsher Ali
Saïd Taghmaoui
Titus De Voogdt
Émilie Dequenne
Eric Godon
Anastasia Hille
Tchéky Karyo
Theme music composer Amatorski
Opening theme "Come Home"
Composer(s) Dominik Scherrer
Country of origin United Kingdom
Original language(s) English
French
No. of series 1
No. of episodes 8 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s) John Yorke
Harry Williams
Jack Williams
Jan Vrints
Elaine Pyke
Charles Pattinson
Polly Hill
Eurydice Gysel
Willow Grylls
Colin Callender
Production location(s) Brussels, Belgium
Cinematography Ole Bratt Birkeland
Running time 60 minutes
Production company(s) <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
Distributor All3Media
Release
Original network <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
Original release 28 October 2014 (2014-10-28) –
present
External links
BBC website

The Missing is a British drama television series. It premiered on 28 October 2014 on BBC One in the UK, and in the US on Starz on 15 November 2014.[1] The eight-part series was written by Harry and Jack Williams and directed by Tom Shankland.[2][3] It stars James Nesbitt and Frances O'Connor as Tony and Emily Hughes, the parents of a boy missing in France, and Tchéky Karyo as Julien Baptiste, a retired French detective put in charge of leading the case.

A second series has been commissioned which will feature a new case,[4] thus marking The Missing as an anthology series.

Plot

Series 1

The first series focuses on Tony Hughes, who in the summer of 2006, during the FIFA World Cup, travels from England to northern France for a holiday with his wife Emily and 5 year old son Oliver. Not long after entering France, their car breaks down, forcing them to spend the night in the small town of Chalons du Bois. One evening, Tony and Oliver visit a crowded outdoor bar, where the quarterfinals football match is being watched. Tony loses sight of his son, never to find him again.

Eight years later, in 2014, Oliver has not yet been found, police have closed the investigation, and the couple are divorced. Although Tony never stopped looking for his son, after seeing a recent picture of the French village where a little boy is wearing a scarf identical to the one Oliver was wearing the day he disappeared, and that was specially made for him with a unique insignia, Tony gets back on track, and with the help of retired detective Julien Baptiste, who led the original investigation, he starts to put the pieces together while the police decide to officially reopen the case.[5][6]

Series 2

The second series follows Sam and Gemma, whose daughter Alice went missing in 2003. In 2014, Alice mysteriously returns home. Told in dual timelines, French detective Julien Baptise investigates the case.[7]

Cast

Series 1

  • James Nesbitt as Tony Hughes; father of the missing boy, Oliver Hughes. Tony feels partly responsible for his disappearance and has therefore devoted his life to finding his son.
  • Frances O'Connor as Emily Hughes; mother of Oliver and wife of Tony in 2006. Emily is devastated by the disappearance of her son and her relationship with Tony breaks down, leading her to start a relationship with detective Mark Walsh, to whom she is engaged in 2014.
  • Tchéky Karyo as Julien Baptiste; lead detective on Oliver's case. Julien rejoins Tony when they find further evidence in 2014, but is still scarred by past events. His daughter is a drug addict who refuses his help regularly.
  • Jason Flemyng as Mark Walsh; an English detective holidaying in Chalons De Bois in 2006. He becomes translator and general support for the Hughes family, and eventually starts a relationship with Emily.
  • Ken Stott as Ian Garrett; a property developer constructing his family holiday home near Chalons De Bois. Ian becomes a benefactor for the Hughes, but holds dark secrets that could be linked to Oliver's disappearance.
  • Diana Quick as Mary Garrett; Ian's wife, still scarred by the disappearance of her own daughter years ago.
  • Arsher Ali as Malik Suri; an English journalist who is determined to make his big break by any means. By bribing corrupt detective Khalid Ziane, he has obtained evidence that could lead to Oliver's killer.
  • Titus De Voogdt as Vincent Bourg; who is living near Chalons De Bois in 2006. He is the police's first suspect due to his reputation as a paedophile, and ends up setting out to 'cure' himself of his obsession.
  • Saïd Taghmaoui as Khalid Ziane; a corrupt police officer who hands vital evidence to Malik Suri and later resorts to violence to cover up his actions.
  • Anastasia Hille as Celia Baptiste; Julien's wife who is devastated by her daughter's addiction.
  • Oliver Hunt as Oliver Hughes; the Hughes' young son who vanishes on their holiday in 2006.
  • Jean-François Wolff as Alain Deloix; the owner of Hotel Eden, the hotel where the Hughes are staying in Chalons De Bois. He is a recovering alcoholic.
  • Eric Godon as Georges Deloix; Alain's brother and the Mayor of Chalons De Bois, who continually stops the police from reopening the case in 2014.
  • Émilie Dequenne as Laurence Relaud
  • Anamaria Marinca as Rini Dalca
  • Johan Leysen as Karl Sieg
  • Camille Schotte as Sara Baptiste; Julien Baptiste's daughter, suffering from addiction

Series 2

Production

The series was originally titled The Breakdown.[8] Filming began in February 2014 with help from the Belgian government's tax shelter scheme. The series was co-produced by New Pictures, Company Pictures, Two Brothers Pictures and Playground Entertainment with Fortis Film Fund, Czar TV Productions and Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroeporganisatie.[9] The distributor is All3Media who sold the series at MIPCOM.[10] The series producer is Chris Clough and the executive producers are Charlie Pattinson, Willow Grylls and Elaine Pyke for New Pictures, John Yorke for Company Pictures, Harry and Jack Williams for Two Brothers Pictures, Polly Hill for the BBC, Colin Callender for Playground Entertainment and Eurydice Gysel for Czar TV Productions. The Missing was commissioned by Charlotte Moore and Ben Stephenson for BBC One.[11]

Although the story is set in France and the United Kingdom, almost all of the scenes were filmed in Huy, Halle, Charleroi and Brussels, Belgium,[5] taking advantage of the Belgian Tax Shelter for film funding.[9] Only a few scenes were shot in Paris and London.

A second series was confirmed in December 2014.[12] Production on the second series began in February 2016. All eight episodes were written by Harry and Jack Williams and are directed by Ben Chanan.[7]

Episodes

Series 1 (2014)

No. Title Directed by Written by UK air date UK viewers
(millions)		 US viewers
(millions)
1 "Eden" Tom Shankland Harry Williams & Jack Williams 28 October 2014 (2014-10-28) 5.76[13] 0.268[14]
2 "Pray for Me" Tom Shankland Harry Williams & Jack Williams 4 November 2014 (2014-11-04) 5.66[15] 0.197[16]
3 "The Meeting" Tom Shankland Harry Williams & Jack Williams 11 November 2014 (2014-11-11) 5.79[17] 0.188[18]
4 "Gone Fishing" Tom Shankland Harry Williams & Jack Williams 18 November 2014 (2014-11-18) 4.98[19] 0.221[20]
5 "Molly" Tom Shankland Harry Williams & Jack Williams 25 November 2014 (2014-11-25) 5.54[21] 0.149[22]
6 "Concrete" Tom Shankland Harry Williams & Jack Williams 2 December 2014 (2014-12-02) 4.66[23] 0.136[24]
7 "Return to Eden" Tom Shankland Harry Williams & Jack Williams 9 December 2014 (2014-12-09) 5.31[25] 0.137[26]
8 "Till Death" Tom Shankland Harry Williams & Jack Williams 16 December 2014 (2014-12-16) 6.61[27] 0.161[28]

Reception

The Missing was met with critical acclaim. On Rotten Tomatoes, the show has earned a "Certified Fresh" score of 96%, with an average rating of 8.4/10 out of 28 reviews. The site's critical consensus reads, " The Missing turns a common premise into a standout thriller with heartfelt, affecting performances."[29] On Metacritic, the series has a score of 85 out of 100 based on 21 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[30] The Guardian called it "hauntingly brilliant television".[31] The Daily Telegraph called it "supremely compelling".[32] The Independent called it "tense [...] absorbing [...] mercilessly believable".[33] The New York Times wrote "The Missing is imaginatively written, well cast, chillingly believable and quite addictive. This kind of story has been told this way before, but somehow that doesn’t make this telling any less compelling."[34]

The final episode was discussed heavily on the social networking site Twitter, with over 1,000 tweets being posted per minute. The series has been hailed as being superior to its ITV counterpart Broadchurch.[35]

In January 2015, at the 72nd Golden Globe Awards, the series was nominated for Best Miniseries or Television Film and Frances O'Connor was nominated for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film.[36] For the 5th Critics' Choice Television Awards, James Nesbitt was nominated for Best Actor in a Movie/Miniseries.[37] At the 2015 British Academy Television Awards, the series received four nominations–Best Drama Series, Radio Times Audience Award, Nesbitt for Best Actor and Ken Stott for Best Supporting Actor.[38] For the 67th Primetime Emmy Awards, Tom Shankland received a nomination for Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series, Movie or a Dramatic Special.[39]

Ratings

Consolidated UK ratings

Episode no. Consolidated
viewers
(millions)[40]
1 6.28
2 7.66
3 7.68
4 7.12
5 7.30
6 6.88
7 7.33
8 8.36

References

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  29. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  31. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  32. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  33. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  34. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  35. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  36. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  37. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  38. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  39. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  40. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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