The Town (2012 TV series)

The Town
Genre	Drama
Created by	Mike Bartlett
Starring	Andrew Scott Martin Clunes Goldy Notay
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	3
Release
Original network	ITV, STV, UTV

The Town is a 2012 British television series developed by Mike Bartlett. The series, shown on ITV, stars Andrew Scott as Mark Nicholas and Martin Clunes as Len Robson, the mayor of the fictional town of Renton.^[1] Three episodes were aired, on 5, 12 and 19 December 2012 on ITV in the UK.

Cast

• Mark Nicholas (Andrew Scott). Following his parents' suicide, Mark returns to his home town of Renton. While trying to pick up the pieces of his broken family, he begins to suspect foul play is involved and the town is covering it up.
• Len Robson (Martin Clunes) is the Mayor of Renton and the antagonist of the series. He struggles with alcohol problems, exacerbated by the range of public relations problems he is involved with.^[2]
• Shireen (Goldy Notay) is the Deputy Mayor of Renton and assistant to Len Robson. She is serious and ambitious, and often struggles to deal with Len's erratic behaviour.
• Jodie Nicholas (Avigail Tlalim) is Mark's rebellious 15-year-old sister. Jodie's relationship with her brother is strained at first, having never known her brother throughout her life, but slowly begins to warm to him. Her initial love interest is Harry (Toby Regbo), a scholarship pupil, but casts him aside for the wilder Ashley (Callum Turner). The Town was Tlalim's debut appearance on television.
• Betty Nicholas (Julia McKenzie) is Mark's estranged grandmother, who has occupied his old childhood bedroom in his absence.
• Alice (Charlotte Riley) was Mark's first love, though she has since married Karl (Jon Foster) and had a child, Sophie (Jade Gill). Mark's return troubles Alice, who eventually leaves her marriage for Mark.
• Jeff (Sam Troughton) is an old friend of Mark's, who suggests going to the pub to console Mark.^[2]
• Inspector Chris Franks (Douglas Hodge) of the local police force who has been having a long-time affair with Mark's mother Kate.
• Daniel (Gerard Kearns) is an undertaker who is sacked after dropping Mark's mother's body, and who later finds work as a cleaner alongside Betty.
• Ashley (Callum Turner) is bad boy boyfriend to Jodie who is coping with the sudden loss of her parents. A troubled teen and reckless boy racer, Ashley is much more complicated than he first appears.

Filming

Town scenes were filmed in the high street of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. The mayor's office was located in a Chapel Lane building in High Wycombe. Other locations included Hughenden Park, The Rye and High Wycombe railway station.

References

1. Stephenson, David: "Martin Clunes: Mayor of mystery in The Town" Daily Express, 2 December 2012. Accessed 11 March 2014
2. Wilson, Frances: "The Town, ITV1, review" Daily Telegraph, 5 December 2012. Accessed 11 March 2014

• The Town - ITV Production Notes
• The Town's entry on IMDB

External links