Martin Clunes will be battling dark forces in Out There, a new ITV crime drama that sees a farmer getting caught up in the world of local county lines drug dealers.
The six-part drama was created by writer and director duo Ed Whitmore and Marc Evans, who brought Manhunt — which saw Clunes playing the real-life detective who caught serial killer Levi Bellfield — to the screen.
"I’m very happy to be working with Marc Evans and Ed Whitmore again after the success of Manhunt." says Clunes. "Out There couldn’t be more different from Doc Martin. It’s pretty dark, but definitely a story worth telling.”
Clunes play Nathan Williams, a man grieving the death of his wife two years ago, who's now a single parent to teenager Johnny. Yet when his son and his livelihood are threatened by local county lines drug dealers, he finds himself embarking on a mission to protect his family, his homestead and his legacy.
"County lines is a particularly vicious and ruthless wave of drug dealing that uses fear and violence to coerce, often vulnerable, young people into working as runners and dealers," explains Ed Whitmore.
"It has become a serious and rapidly increasing problem across the whole of the UK, so it felt like an important and timely story to tell. I’ve always been fascinated by the notion of things being hidden in plain sight and the way in which different social worlds can co-exist cheek-by-jowl until, one day, they collide. The fundamental premise of Out There — a widowed farmer who discovers that his son has fallen foul of county lines — immediately spoke to me as a story I wanted to tell.”
Here's everything we know about Out There...
Out There release date
Out There is currently being filmed in Wales, which means a release date of 2024 is highly likely. When we have more information, we'll be sure to let you know.
Out There plot
An official synopsis from ITV adds..
"Nathan Williams, a man who runs a farm which has been in his family for generations, is caught in a numbing rhythm of work and grief following the death of his wife, Sabine, two years previously. A single parent to teenager Johnny, Nathan is uniquely placed and possesses enough pent-up energy to take on the gangs that threaten to engulf his son.
"Consequently, he embarks on a personal journey that will take him ever further out of his comfort zone into a dark alternative world as he fights to protect his family, his homestead and his legacy. He’s missed all the clues that the country idyll around him has been fatally compromised, contaminated by waves of criminality spreading and mutating virus-like from the city.
"Now Nathan must accept that the rustic atmosphere of his childhood is long gone, replaced by something altogether more edgy and perilous. And the only way for Nathan, our hero, to survive in this brave new world is to learn the rules and fight back.
"The drama will depict the stealthy, surreptitious invasion of the land our farmer cherishes, with devastating consequences, as his livelihood, homestead and family life are threatened by local county lines drugs dealers, essentially urban gangs using the British countryside as a field of operations, moving drugs and money between their inner-city hubs and provincial areas."
Out There cast
Martin Clunes leads the cast as farmer Nathan Williams. Clunes has previously starred in much-loved and long-running ITV drama Doc Martin, while also appearing in period drama, Vanity Fair.
He's also well known for his travelogues and has taken us to exotic climes in Islands of the Pacific, Islands of Australia and Islands of America.
Louis Ashbourne Serkis — son of Lorraine Ashbourne (Sherwood) and Andy Serkis (The Lord of the Rings) — plays Nathan's son Johnny. Louis previous TV credits include Taboo, The Queen's Gambit and SS-GB.
Mark Lewis Jones (The Crown), Natalia Kostrzewa (Save Me), Carly-Sophia Davies (The Eternal Daughter) and Gerran Howell (Suspicion) also star.
Is there a trailer?
Not yet, but we'll be sure to update this article as soon as one drops.
