Roadkill is a British four-part television political intrigue thriller written and created by David Hare, and directed by Michael Keillor. The series was made by The Forge production studio for the BBC, co-financed by Masterpiece in association with All3Media International. It was first broadcast in the UK on BBC One on 18 October 2020. In the United States, it was broadcast as part of the Masterpiece anthology series on PBS starting on 1 November 2020.
Contents
Premise
The series stars Hugh Laurie as the populist Conservative politician, Peter Laurence, freshly promoted to the middle-ranking Justice Secretary and on the up, after just dodging a scandal by winning a major libel case in the High Court against a national newspaper, but whose private life is under fire from his family — including an imprisoned illegitimate daughter, who has just come to light — as well as his political foes. Primary amongst his political friends and enemies is the embattled Prime Minister Dawn Ellison played by Helen McCrory in her final performance before her death in April 2021.
Cast
Hugh Laurie as the Rt Hon. Peter Laurence MP, the Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor
Helen McCrory as the Rt Hon. Dawn Ellison MP, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Pippa Bennett-Warner as Rochelle Madeley
Millie Brady as Lily Laurence
Ophelia Lovibond as Susan Laurence
Shalom Brune-Franklin as Rose Dietl
Iain De Caestecker as Duncan Knock
Sarah Greene as Charmian Pepper
Saskia Reeves as Helen Laurence
Patricia Hodge as Lady Roche
Olivia Vinall as Julia Blythe
Sidse Babett Knudsen as Madeleine Halle
Danny Ashok as Luke Strand
Gbemisola Ikumelo as Steff Frost
Emma Cunniffe as Sydney
Caroline Lee-Johnson as Bella Gayle
Natalie Dew as Alisha Burman
Anna Francolini as HJ Keane
Vincenzo Nicoli as George
Jennifer Hennessy as Bryony Beckett
Yolanda Kettle as Joy Pelling
Kate Lamb as Lindsay Storm
Katie Leung as Margaret Moore
Pip Torrens as Joe Lapidus
Alice McMillan as Charlotte Hedge
Tony Pitts as Mick 'the Mouth' Murray
Nicholas Rowe as Adam De Banzie
Sylvestra Le Touzel as Dame Vanessa Pollard
Production
The series was filmed on location in London and Hastings.
Release
Roadkill was released on DVD and blu-ray in the UK by Dazzler Media in 2021.