‘Cape Wrath’ Preview

New US TV import Cape Wrath (Meadowlands in the US) is a suburban set drama where nothing is as it seems, but that?s where the similarities with Desperate Housewives end; this show is far darker and more brutal, with more complex and curious characters than most shows can dream of.

The blindfolded ?Brogan? family provides our access to the community of Meadowlands, as they are chauffeured into the area as part of a witness protection program.

?It was one of those 2am flashes of inspiration that just happen sometimes?, Cape Wrath?s executive producer Matthew Arlidge explains. ?What if an entire community was made up of people in protective custody? Wouldn?t it be the most paranoid place on Earth?

?With everyone wondering what everyone else has done to end up there and if the past would ever catch them up? I felt that was a fantastic crucible for potent drama.? 

The head of the Brogan family is ?Danny?, played by Basic Instinct 2?s David Morrissey, who moves in to the community with his wife ?Evelyn? (Lucy Cohu; Becoming Jane), and their teenage twins ?Zoe? (Felicity Jones) and ?Mark? (Harry Treadaway).

The twins have a strange relationship, with Mark, who has been mute for months, communicating occasionally through his sister.

Their new home town is just too perfect; the sky is too blue for England, the houses seem so purpose-built, and that really makes the scenario even creepier.

The complication of the British accents against the American-looking suburb that is actually situated in the UK gives an unnerving and fabulously surreal feeling to this psychological thriller.

Scottish writer Robert Murphy shared his thoughts on this, ?Creating such a larger than life, hyper-real world and then populating it with an eclectic cast of eccentric characters was terrific fun.

?Cape Wrath, well ?Meadowlands? is to all intents and purposes, England but an England you?ve never heard of or seen before. There?s that slightly off-kilter oddness about the place that gives voice to its peculiar population.?

There are many supporting characters already living in the identikit streets, the most intriguing of which are handyman Jack Donnelly (Tom Hardy, Marie Antoinette) an oversexed predator who seems to get off on others? fear and Bernard Wintersgill (Ralph Brown, Withnail And I) an obsessive compulsive policeman with a violent streak that he uses when laying down the law.

These complex and fluid characters, trying to keep to their new identities as best they can, prove to be a fascinating, enticing and unsettling facet to this new drama.

With so many individual journeys and pasts to explore within the community and the complicated relationships of the ?Brogan? family, it looks like this intelligent, subtext-weaving drama will be one to watch for quite some time.

Once secrets are revealed, and relationships changed, seeing how the Lynch-ian tone develops will be just one of many aspects to look forward to as this mysterious drama unfolds.
 
Cape Wrath premieres on Channel 4 on 10 July at 10pm.