Lost in the shuffle
Sheridan Smith and Michael Socha star in BBC One's new high-stakes thriller, The Cage
Element Pictures/BBC/Photographer James Stack
- Gareth McLean
There are more than 150 local casinos across the UK (according to casino.org — “the world’s #1 guide for players looking to gamble smarter, safer and with more confidence”). And it’s in a fictional, Liverpudlian version of one such establishment that The Cage — named after the fortified area in which casino cashiers work — is set. A new thriller from The Responder’s Tony Schumacher, it stars Sheridan Smith and Michael Socha, and once again shines a light on Schumacher’s home town, though Liverpool, you may not be surprised to learn, is no Las Vegas.
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“Casinos are very much associated with America, in particular Vegas, but what was massively important to our show was a sense of place outside the casino, a grounded, real, character-driven world,” explains director Al Mackay. “I didn’t want sterile, glossy and characterless. I wanted it to feel as if it was
new in the 80s…”
Against this backdrop of faded provincial sophistication, Leanne (Smith) and Matty (Socha) each discover that the other is stealing from the safe at work. While their motives and methods differ, their desperation does not. In one scene Leanne is adamant: “We have to stop, Matty — so we stop.” Huffily, Matty agrees: “Yeah!”
Co-stars Sheridan Smith and Michael Socha share a laugh on location in the casino car park in central Liverpool. Element Pictures/BBC/Photographer James Stack
They’re not going to stop.
Thrillers get their tension and propulsion from the plot, but it’s the characters, and how much we care about them, that determine the stakes. “A show like this is full of energy, music and colour and has two key stories,” Mackay says. “You just start weaving them faster towards the end, until it’s almost a montage. Tony is such a great writer.”
Of stars Smith and Socha, he adds, “I’ve known Michael since he was a teenager, so there’s a long-term trust between us and that trust became contagious. Sheridan has incredible instincts for being in front of camera and I loved working with her. She can do a hell of a lot under the hood. You just have to make sure you capture it.” Gareth McLean
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The Cage is coming soon to BBC One
Authors
Gareth McLean
Gareth McLean has been writing about television for nearly 30 years. As a critic, he's reviewed thousands of programmes. As a feature writer, he's interviewed hundreds of people, from Liza Minnelli to Jimmy Savile. He has also written for TV.
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