Silk (TV series)

Silk
Genre	Drama, crime, legal
Created by	Peter Moffat
Written by	Peter Moffat Steve Thompson Debbie O'Malley Mick Collins Colin Teevan
Starring	Maxine Peake Rupert Penry-Jones Neil Stuke John MacMillan Theo Barklem-Biggs Alex Jennings Tom Hughes Natalie Dormer Nina Sosanya Jamie Di Spirito Frances Barber Amy Wren Phil Davis Indira Varma Shaun Evans Miranda Raison Jessica Henwick
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	3
No. of episodes	18 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Hilary Salmon Peter Moffat
Producers	Cameron Roach (Series 1) Richard Stokes (Series 2) Matt Strevens (Series 3)
Running time	60 minutes
Original release
Network	BBC One BBC One HD ABC1 (Syndication)
Release	22 February 2011 (2011-02-22) – 31 March 2014 (2014-03-31)
Related
North Square Criminal Justice

Silk is a British television drama series produced by the BBC which was broadcast over three series on BBC One between 22 February 2011 and 31 March 2014. Created by Peter Moffat, the series follows the daily goings on of Shoe Lane chambers and its members in their personal and professional lives and what they do to attain the rank of Queen's Counsel, known as "taking silk."

Origin

The series' writer, Peter Moffat, also wrote the series Criminal Justice and North Square, as well as an episode of Kavanagh QC. Before the series started, Moffat said in an interview, "I wanted Silk to be full of politics and intrigue. From my experience at the Bar, I felt life in chambers had all of those components, with big stories and lots of courtroom drama—but I wanted to make it as much about barristers and their life in chambers as about the trials".

Silk was commissioned by Jay Hunt, then-Controller of BBC One and Ben Stephenson, BBC Controller of Drama Commissioning, and started filming in July 2010. It is based on Moffat's experiences at the Bar. In an interview with The Guardian, he said "I want to tell it as it really is. The extreme pressure, the hard choices, the ethical dilemmas, the overlap between the personal and the professional, principles fought for and principles sacrificed, the Machiavellian politics, the sex, the drinking, the whole story—life at the bar is the richest possible drama territory."

The series' title refers to the act of being appointed a Queen's Counsel, known as "taking silk" due to the different style of gown, usually made of silk, worn in court by QCs. It is this gown which gives rise to the colloquial reference to Queen's Counsel as "silks" as well as to the phrase "taking silk" referring to their appointment.

Overview

Silk follows a set of barristers from a chambers in London. The series' main focus is on Martha Costello (Maxine Peake) and her ambition to become Queen's Counsel as well as on her rival, Clive Reader (Rupert Penry-Jones). Martha achieves her ambition at the end of Series One, leaving Clive disappointed. He however becomes a QC in the opening episode of Series 3. The chambers' senior clerk, Billy Lamb (Neil Stuke), also features heavily in the series.

Silk ended with series 3, as creators Moffet and Peake were keen to end at a high point. Rupert Penry-Jones commented that:
"It’s a courtroom drama so it could go on and on and there is a whole echelon of stuff we could go into, but it will be interesting to see what people make of this series because the way it is left, we as a cast aren’t sure whether it’s been written as, 'This is it', or whether it’s got more to come because it feels like everyone gets blasted in different directions at the end of this series, so maybe the writer has thrown a grenade in and blown the whole show up. But it will very much depend on how people react to it."

In March 2014, it was announced there will be a radio spin-off following the lives of the clerks of Shoe Lane Chambers.

In October 2014, it was announced that the series would be adapted by ABC for US television. Peter Moffat is due to executive produce with the pilot being written by Marty Scott.

Cast

Main Cast

Character	Actor	Role	First Appearance	Last Appearance	Episode count
Martha Costello QC	Maxine Peake	Defence Barrister QC (S1, E6)	S1, E1	S3, E6	18
Clive Reader QC	Rupert Penry-Jones	Barrister QC (S3, E1) Head of Chambers (S3, E6)	S1, E1	S3, E6	18
Billy Lamb	Neil Stuke	Senior Clerk	S1, E1	S3, E6	18
John Bright	John MacMillan	Clerk	S1, E1	S3, E6	18
Jake Milner	Theo Barklem-Biggs	Junior Clerk	S1, E1	S3, E6	18
Alan Cowdrey QC	Alex Jennings	Head of Chambers (S1, E1 - S3, E6) Judge	S1, E6	S3, E6	13
Nick Slade	Tom Hughes	Pupil - Shadows Martha Costello	S1, E1	S1, E6	6
Niamh Cranitch	Natalie Dormer	Pupil - Shadows Clive Reader	S1, E1	S1, E6	6
Kate Brockman	Nina Sosanya	Prosecution Barrister	S1, E1	S1, E6	6
Jimmy Johnson	Jamie Di Spirito	Junior Clerk	S1, E1	S1, E6	6
Caroline Warwick QC	Frances Barber	Prosecution Barrister	S2, E1	S3, E6	12
Bethany Brassington	Amy Wren	Junior Clerk	S2, E1	S3, E6	12
Mickey Joy	Phil Davis	Solicitor (S2,E1 - S2, E6) Police Informant (S3, E5)	S2, E1	S3, E6	7
George Duggan	Indira Varma	CPS Solicitor	S2, E1	S3, E6	6
Daniel Lomas	Shaun Evans	Pupil - Shadows Martha Costello	S2, E4	S2, E6	3
Harriet Hammond	Miranda Raison	Practice Manager	S3, E1	S3, E6	6
Amy Lang	Jessica Henwick	Pupil - Shadows Martha Costello, Clive Reader & Caroline Warwick (S3, E2 - S3, E5) Barrister (S3, E5)	S3, E2	S3, E6	5

Recurring Cast

Character	Actor	Role	Series	Episode count
HHJ Malkin	Pip Torrens	Judge	1-3	4
Gary Rush	Paul Hilton	Represented by Martha Costello	1	4
Mark Draper	Reece Noi	Represented by Martha Costello	1	3
Noah Ziegler	Darian Schiller	Barrister	1	3
Michael Connolly	Will Keen	Mark Draper's Solicitor	1	3
Hugo Milson QC	Malcolm Sinclair	Barrister	2-3	3
Fatima Ali	Shanaya Rafatt	Represented by Martha Costello & Clive Reader	2	4
Jody Farr	Finbar Lynch	Represented by Martha Costello & Alan Cowdrey	2	2
Nicola	Kirsty Bushell	CPS Solicitor	3	4
Sean	Kieran O'Brien	Friend of/Represented by Martha Costello	3	3

Episodes

Series		Episodes	Originally broadcast		DVD release date
			Series premiere	Series finale	Region 2
	1	6	22 February 2011	29 March 2011	11 April 2011
	2	6	15 May 2012	20 June 2012	25 June 2012
	3	6	24 February 2014	31 March 2014	7 April 2014

Critical reception

Writing in The Daily Telegraph, barrister Sarah Palin praised Silk, saying that "the opening episodes do a good job of capturing the relentless pressure of the criminal Bar" and that "the competition for silk, while a useful plot device, also accurately reflects the fiercely competitive nature of the Bar", but added "the characters featured are a little more youthful than their real-life counterparts" and that the storyline in which one of the pupil barristers shoplifts his wig and gown struck "an absurd note". The Telegraph's television reviewer, James Walton, compared the series to Moffat's previous production, North Square, but said that Silk was "more viewer-friendly" and the characters "far easier to divide into heroes and villains". He concluded that the first episode was "a perfectly OK hour of telly—marred only by the fact that we’ve come to expect a bit more than that from Moffat." Alex Aldridge of The Guardian, meanwhile, called the series "underwhelming" and stated that it implied that cocaine use was "rife" amongst criminal barristers. Also writing in The Guardian, Lucy Mangan implied that the series was predictable and called it "a rare misfire by Peter Moffat [...] and aggravated by the squandering of Peake, whose usually overflowing talents seem to have been dammed here rather than encouraged to irrigate an oddly bloodless role."

The first series averaged 5.85 million viewers. The second series averaged 5.74 million viewers.

External links

• Silk at IMDb
• Silk at BBC Online