Last year Channel 4 broadcast a dark conspiracy drama called Utopia. It was beautifully shot and graded with striking colours. The characters and story were very original and very violent with a few look away moments. I’m excited that next week see’s the return of Utopia with two episodes over consecutive nights from Monday 14th July.
However, I was lucky enough to attend a screening of these episodes a few weeks ago with some of the cast in attendance and unlike some shows that lose something from season one to season two. These first two episodes of Utopia were nothing less than business as usual but the first episode was set in the 1970’s with period grading and 4:3 aspect ratio that matched the use of stock news footage from the time. It sets up the events that ultimately lead to storyline of Utopia season one without me giving away any spoilers. The second episode then continues season two with some more shocks and surprises.
The subsequent Q&A afterwards offered a fairly limited insight into the creation of the show by writer Dennis Kelly.
One of the more famous lines from season one was a question from the character called Arby played by Neil Maskel. The question goes, “Where is Jessica Hyde?”
Now that might not mean very much to those that haven’t seen the show, however I think this is a cool photo. So… Here is Jessica Hyde…
I really recommend that you try and catch the first series. If you don’t Arby might get you…
M