GUILTY PLEASURE II
As the dark drama which won a global following returns to TV screens next week, here’s our essential catch-up guide
TURN off the phone, pull the curtains, and for goodness sake don’t let the nosy neighbours see what you’re up to. A new series of Guilt has arrived, possibly the most anticipated Scottish drama since, well, the first series. Four new episodes of the show are headed for BBC Scotland, starting on Tuesday.
They will air nationally on BBC Two on Thursday – much to the excitement of viewers across the country who found themselves drawn in to the tale of two brothers in Edinburgh who accidentally kill a man while driving home one night and decide, with disastrous consequences, to cover it up.
BBC Scotland’s first original drama since the channel launched, Guilt became a word-of-mouth hit during the autumn of 2019 as a rolling wave of viewers discovered the show, which mixes dark humour with a tense dramatic script, via iPlayer.
It even got a thumbs up from Line of Duty creator Jed Mercurio, who called it ‘top telly’.
In the two years since, Guilt’s appeal has stretched far beyond the British Isles, proving a huge hit in the US, where it aired on channel PBS, as well as in Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
In fact, so big has the reaction been to the show one critic called it the most impressive Scottish TV debut since Tutti Frutti back in 1987, while another compared it to dark US TV drama Fargo, but relocated to Leith.
If you missed the fuss the first time round, worry not, as all four episodes of the first series are still available on iPlayer.
Here, we provide your handy guide to the show and what we can expect to see from series two. Hooked already? Guilty as charged.
THE VILLAIN SHARP-CHEEKBONED
SOCIOPATH or misunderstood rebel? The jury is still out. Certainly Max, played by Mark Bonnar, reveals himself as the antihero of Guilt from the start of the first episode when, after his brother suggests ringing an ambulance after knocking a man down in the street, he responds: ‘Let’s not do anything hasty.’
A high-flying lawyer with a bored wife, a house from the pages of an interiors magazine and a fancy car (which starts all the trouble), Max spends most of the first series making a succession of increasingly dubious decisions involving loan sharks and private detectives which land him in huge trouble by the end of the last episode.
Intriguingly, Bonnar and Jamie Sives, who plays his brother Jake in the series, went to school together, both attending Leith Academy in the 1980s. Bonnar credits that long-standing connection to their onscreen brotherly chemistry.
‘We didn’t really mix in the same circles but we definitely had a connection and good laugh whenever we sat together in class,’ he said.
‘As soon as Guilt came along, there was nobody else in my mind to play my brother.’
At the end of the final episode we saw Max break into an enigmatic smile as he was driven away by the police. What could it all mean?
‘That smile for me is one of admiration, from Max to Jake, and by extension, one of love,’ writer Neil Forsyth said in a recent interview.
‘I think it’s the most dramatically important moment in the entire series.’ Gosh. Eyes peeled for enigmatic smiles in series two, then. Indeed, the new series starts with Max’s release from prison, so expect a few enigmatic sharp-cheekboned glares, too.
THE BROTHER SENSITIVE
JAKE, whose record shop has more vinyl than customers, is the anti-Max, yet seems strangely reluctant to sever ties between the pair.
And if anyone suffers guilt in the first series, it’s Jake, played by Jamie Sives.
‘This is a huge, lifechanging thing to him, whereas Max snaps into trying to fix the situation without morals or scruples,’ said Sives.
‘He’s quite gentle, philosophical and mystical. What transpires is that Jake carries a bit of resentment about his unfulfilled life and, unlike his pragmatic brother Max, Jake is a little bit of a hippy.’
Unlike his brother, however, whose marriage hits the rocks during series one, Jake finds love in series one with Angie, the ‘niece’ of the old man, Walter, whom he and his brother accidentally killed. Will their relationship survive until series two, or will Jake be back to his loner, loser ways?
By the end of series one, he appeared to have a newfound confidence, not least in standing up to his brother and shopping him to the cops. But will it last?
THE PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR
A CHAOTIC man with a marriage that has ended and a huge drinking problem, kenny, played by Emun Elliott, spends most of series one becoming increasingly downtrodden, often by Max, and with a series of ever more painful yet comedic bruises on his face.
Brought in by Max to investigate Walter’s death (we see what he did there), however, his ineptitude is not quite as wholehearted as Max believes, and in the end it’s kenny who gets the last laugh.
Set to appear once again for season two, will kenny still be after revenge on Max?
THE NIECE
ANGIE, played by Ruth Bradley, is Walter’s American, stylish, hipster niece, who travels to Scotland (or does she?) upon hearing
the news of his death to settle his affairs. She soon meets Jake and the two strike up a relationship, despite the fact that Angie is suspicious of Jake’s motives, while he questions why she was really in Scotland in the first place. ‘She’s very self-contained, cool and she’s not easily fazed,’ Bradley said of her character in an interview.
The pair came clean to each other by the end of series one and appeared to be heading off into the sunset together. But there is no word yet on whether Angie will return for series two. If she does, expect their quirky relationship to hit a few snags.
THE WIFE CLAIRE
MAX’S glamorous wife, played by Sian Brooke, is an un-stereotypical bored housewife, who becomes increasingly suspicious of her husband’s behaviour as he tries desperately to cover up Walter’s death. To add a further complication she finds herself falling for Tina, a woman she meets at the gym, who turns out to be more connected to the case than first appeared. By the end of series one Claire has left Max, utterly disillusioned by both him and their marriage. Will we see her again? Or is she gone for good?
THE WRITER
NEIL Forsyth was, until Guilt, perhaps best known for his curmudgeonly Dundonian creation Bob Servant, which started out of a series of emails, morphed into a book and then a radio programme, and finally became a successful sitcom starring Brian Cox.
The 45-year-old from Dundee has been taken aback at the success of the show.
‘I’ve never had a reaction like that to a television show. I’m sure I never will again,’ he said recently. ‘I thought it would be perhaps a slightly more divisive show than it was but it seemed to just connect with people.’
He added: ‘I think it felt probably much more American actually, in that kind of American dramedy tradition and in its visual presentation, the use of music, in particular, and pace.’
With series two of Guilt in the can, Forsyth is now working on The Gold, a BBC and Viacom drama series inspired by the true story of the Brink’s-Mat robbery in london in 1983. Fear not, however. Given that Guilt has attracted comparisons to US drama Fargo, which is now in its fifth series, expect Guilt to run and run.
THE NEW FACES
WHILE the BBC has been at pains to keep much of the new plotline under wraps, we do know that several new actors have joined the cast, including Downton Abbey favourite Phyllis logan and Sara Vickers, who stars in ITV detective series endeavour.
Meanwhile, Stuart Bowman will replace Bill Paterson as mob boss Roy lynch, which suggests that Max’s entanglements with the underworld aren’t quite over yet.
THE NEW PLOT
HERE’S what we know. Max is back on the streets after serving time on a manslaughter charge, and – surprise, surprise – is getting into trouble again.
We are also told that at the same time as he is released from prison, two gunshots ring out in a basement at the other end of edinburgh, and that the two events are not unconnected.
But what of Jake? At the end of the last series, we saw him delay his escape from Scotland with Angie in order to shop Max to the cops.
Given that some scenes of the new series have been filmed in ‘Chicago’ (actually Glasgow mocked up to look like the city), can we expect Jake has made the big move across the pond? And, perhaps even more importantly, is his brother coming after him?
Certainly, during filming in January Bonnar was spotted making his way through a sea of yellow taxis and American cops carrying a large leather holdall.
Are the brothers heading for a final showdown?
In a recent interview Forsyth revealed: ‘The biggest thing is, as hopefully is always the case, nothing is what it seems.’
■ Guilt starts on BBC Scotland, Tuesday, 10pm, and on BBC2, Thursday, 9pm