River (BBC-1 2015 with Stellan Skarsgård and Nicola Walker)

UK / BBC-1 / 2015

Writer: Abi Morgan
Producer: Chris Carey
Director: Richard Laxton

Cast: Stellan Skarsgård, Nicola Walker, Lesley Manville, Adeel Akhtar, Eddie Marsan,

Stellan Skarsgår stars as John River, a brilliant police officer whose genius and fault-line is the fragility of his mind in this six x one hour crime drama.

Nicola Walker and Adeel Akhtar complete the line up alongside Skarsgård, as Detective Sergeant Jackie ‘Stevie’ Stevenson, River’s colleague and confidant, and Detective Sergeant Ira King. Lesley Manville (An Adventure In Space And Time) is their superior, Chief Inspector Chrissie Read, with Eddie Marsan also joining the cast as a notorious killer who plagues River.

John River: a Detective who lives among the dead and dying victims and killers from the murder cases he’s trying to solve.

John River: a man whose vulnerabilities and eccentricities are brought to the fore as he grieves the loss of his dearest friend and colleague, DS Jackie Stevenson.

The stages of his grief mark River’s growing bonds with those he has excluded from his heart and his mind, and when a murder suspect jumps to his death whilst being pursued by River, the pressure and scrutiny that surrounds him escalates fast.

As the investigation into Stevie’s murder begins to reveal her deepest secrets, River has to question everything he thought he knew about his one true friend. Their relationship might have survived her death but can it survive the truth of who she really was in life?

Abi Morgan says: “Actors are agents of change. They carry the vision of an entire creative team. A show like River needs broad shoulders and I can’t think of anyone better than Stellan Skarsgård to take on this challenge and lead this brilliant cast.”

River will air from Tuesday 13 October at 9pm on BBC One.