Kingdom (TV series)

Kingdom
Genre	Drama
Created by	Simon Wheeler Alan Whiting (co-creator)
Starring	Stephen Fry Hermione Norris Celia Imrie Karl Davies Tony Slattery
Theme music composer	Mark Russell
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Language(s)	English
No. of series	1
No. of episodes	6 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Simon Wheeler Stephen Fry Alan Moloney Gina Carter
Producer(s)	Georgina Lowe
Camera setup	Single-camera
Running time	approx. 46 min. per episode
Broadcast
Original channel	ITV
Picture format	PAL (576i)
Original run	22 April 2007 – present

Kingdom is a British television series produced by Parallel Film and Television Productions and Sprout for ITV. It was created by Simon Wheeler and stars Stephen Fry as Peter Kingdom, a Norfolk-based solicitor who is getting on with life after the mysterious disappearance of his brother. The series also stars Hermione Norris, Celia Imrie, Karl Davies and Tony Slattery. The first series, of six one-hour episodes, aired from 22 April to 27 May 2007, averaging six million viewers per week. Despite a mid-series ratings dip, the executive chairman of ITV praised the programme, and a second series was filmed from July to September 2007 for broadcast in 2008.

Production

Development

Wheeler spent two years developing the idea for the series before filming began in 2006 and proposed the Peter character as "helping people more than doing the law".^[1] The series was originally to be based around a probate solicitor, with the title Where There's a Will. Stephen Fry disapproved of the title and raised the point that it would be difficult to produce six scripts featuring his character dealing with probate issues.^[2] A series of six episodes was announced in June 2006.^[3]

Casting

The series was primarily a vehicle for Fry, and was his first television drama series for ITV since the conclusion of Jeeves and Wooster in 1993.^[2] Most of the main cast had worked with Fry before; Slattery had been in Footlights with Fry, Law appeared with him in Peter's Friends and Imrie also appeared in Gormenghast (though the two did not share any scenes). Already being acquainted allowed the cast to appear more relaxed in front of the camera.^[2] Norris had not made any appearances with the rest of the cast beyond a credit with Imrie in Hospital!, a one-off Channel 5 comedy. However she is married to Wheeler, and he had previously written for Wire in the Blood, which she formerly starred in. She took the role as a change of pace from the "ice maiden" characters she often portrays.^[4] Cameo appearances in the first series were made by Richard Wilson (as Peter's old university tutor in episode four), Robert Bathurst (as a cross-dressing husband in episode five), Joss Ackland (as an Auschwitz survivor in episode six), and Rory Bremner (as a vicar, also in episode six).^[5] Bremner, known more for satire than acting, has joked that he played the vicar "as" Michael Howard and Rowan Williams and that his character's name was "Jane", due to an error in the script.^[1]

Filming

Location filming was primarily based in Swaffham. Filming began on 10 July 2006 and was scheduled for 12 weeks, with shooting also taking place in nearby Hunstanton, Wells, Holkham, Thetford and Dereham.^[6][7] These places formed the fictional town of Market Shipborough (a name not dissimilar to Market Harborough). Fry recommended Swaffham to the producers, citing market towns as "more revealing of what Britain is like than a city is".^[2] Locations used within Swaffham include Oakleigh House (as the offices of Kingdom and Kingdom) and the Greyhound pub (renamed "The Startled Duck"), amongst others.^[8] The producers noted that Oakleigh House was ideal for the offices as there was an "authenticity" of opening the door straight onto the market square, instead of a transition from studio to location footage.^[1] Scenes featuring Fry driving an Alvis TE 21 were placed in jeopardy when the actor was caught speeding in May 2006. His counsel successfully postponed the hearing until December, allowing filming to resume unaffected (Fry would be banned from driving for six months).^[9] The first two episodes were directed by Robin Sheppard, the third and fourth by Metin Hüseyin and the final two by Sandy Johnson.^[10] A making-of special was filmed for the ITV3 Behind the Scenes strand and was broadcast on 27 May, immediately following the end of episode six on ITV.^[11] Filming of the second series was scheduled in two blocks; the first ran from 2 July to 11 August and the second from 20 August to 29 September. Shooting is once again based in Swaffham.^[12] Filming was briefly halted on 24 August while the cast and crew presented Fry with a birthday cake to mark his 50th birthday.^[13] Norris took a break from filming in August to give birth to her daughter, returning to the set to complete her scenes in September.^[14]

Plot summary

The series follows Peter Kingdom, a small-town solicitor whose work revolves around cases brought by the eclectic and eccentric populace of Market Shipborough. The series retains a largely episodic format, where self-contained plots play out before the hour concludes, though a continuing storyline concerns the mysterious disappearance of Simon Kingdom, Peter's brother. The first episode reveals that he vanished at sea six months previously and that everybody who knew him (including Peter) assumed that he committed suicide.^[10] Each week there are further indications that he did not die, culminating in episode six when it is revealed that he had a relationship with a woman, and that she had become pregnant with his child after he had supposedly died.

Episodes

Characters

Peter Kingdom (left, played by Stephen Fry) is "on the side of ordinary people" in a scene where he and Sidney Snell (right, played by Tony Slattery), the "unlikely guardian" of the town, force a planner to stop the development of a relief road in episode one.

The protagonist, Peter Kingdom (played by Stephen Fry), is one half of Kingdom and Kingdom, a practice he ran with his brother Simon, who disappeared six months before the series began. Peter is respected and regarded as compassionate by the local community. Fry described him as "kind and empathetic", "on the side of the ordinary people"^[2] and as being "lonely and isolated" and not revealing his true emotions.^[1] Phyllida Law describes Peter as "into the community like one of those old French village priests".^[24] Peter's sister Beatrice (played by Hermione Norris), arrives in the first episode after leaving rehabilitation and is described by Wheeler as intended to be the "ultimate annoying little sister".^[1] Lyle Anderson (played by Karl Davies) is a trainee solicitor at Kingdom and Kingdom and Gloria Millington (played by Celia Imrie) is a legal secretary who is recovering from the death of her husband a year previously.^[25] She has a young son (played by Angus Imrie, the actress's son) and is "the sister he [Peter] deserved" but never had.^[1] Tony Slattery and Phyllida Law also make appearances as Sidney Snell (a frequent client of Peter who often finds ways to sue the local council) and Peter's Aunt Auriel respectively.^[25] Slattery described Snell as an "everyman anti-hero", with Wheeler calling him an "unlikely guardian of Market Shipborough" on account of his numerous attempts to stop building work.^[1] Maryann Turner plays a recurring minor character referred to only as "Mrs. Thing", whom Peter is constantly trying to avoid. She eventually "corners" Peter in episode six, revealing that she wants to leave him her money when she dies, though is later persuaded to donate it to the church. The characters are described by Wheeler as "three families"; Peter's relations, his colleagues, and the populace of Market Shipborough.^[3] Peter's brother Simon remains an unseen character (with the exception of some photographs) and over the course of the first series, details about him are revealed, with the final episode revealing that he had fled to Dublin, apparently to escape large debts.

Reception

In a preview, Radio Times described it as "Sunday night television at its cosiest", though called the plot of episode one "feeble".^[26] Comments by The Stage echoed this, calling the storyline a "run of the mill affair", but praised the locations and referred to the series as a whole as "nice".^[27] Following the broadcast of the first episode The Guardian wrote that the series "slips down as smoothly as a pint of Adnams" and (with tongue in cheek) welcomed it as a change from "loutish" Michael Kitchen in "relentlessly vulgar" fellow Sunday-night drama Foyle's War.^[28] The Times had a negative view, awarding the episode one star out of five and criticising Stephen Fry for "playing Stephen Fry". The casting of the other characters was also criticised, though the costuming was wryly praised.^[29] The programme received some criticism in Norfolk for its inaccurate depiction of local accents. Local journalist and broadcaster Keith Skipper told the Eastern Daily Press newspaper: "If they are going to set these dramas in a specific location with locals and extras surely they should get the accent right otherwise it is self defeating."^[30] An ITV spokesman told the paper: "We hired a professional dialect coach to help the actors achieve their Norfolk accent. The Norfolk accent is different in one area of Norfolk to another. What we are trying to achieve is something that resembles a Norfolk accent that cannot be pinned down."^[30] However, he failed to identify any area of Norfolk in which the accent contains a Mummerset "r". ITV executive chairman Michael Grade was pleased with the series, describing it as having "done well for [ITV]" in the prestigious 9 p.m. slot during a conference in June 2007.^[31] The series was longlisted in the Most Popular Drama Programme category for the 2007 National Television Awards. In addition, Fry and Imrie were longlisted for Most Popular Actor and Most Popular Actress respectively for their roles.^[32]

Series information

Broadcast history

The first series aired on the ITV network in the UK at 9 p.m. on Sunday nights from 22 April to 27 May 2007. A second series was commissioned before the first episode was broadcast and was filmed from July to September 2007 for broadcast in 2008.^[5] Fry has expressed interest in doing a third series.^[5] International distribution rights were bought by Portman Film and Television, which sold the series to 14 international networks by February 2007.^[33] Seven regional European Hallmark Channels broadcast it, with other showings on NRK in Norway, RÚV in Iceland, YLE in Finland and één in Flanders. The Australian rights were picked up by the Seven Network, with TVNZ buying it for New Zealand.^[33]

DVD release

The first series was passed by the BBFC on 7 March 2007, with a 12 rating.^[34] It was released by 2 Entertain Video on 28 May 2007 and includes the ITV3 Behind the Scenes special, which was classified on 10 April 2007.^[35][36]

References

External links

• Kingdom at Portman Film and Television
• Kingdom at the British Film Institute
• Kingdom at the Internet Movie Database
• Kingdom at TV.com