Utopia (2013) - Contemporary Drama

Utopia is a British conspiracy thriller written by Dennis Kelly and directed by Marc Munden with many others aired in January 2013 on Channel 4. It stars Fiona O’Shaughnessy as Jessica Hyde, Adeel Akhtar as Wilson Wilson, Paul Higgins as Michael Dugdale, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett as Ian Johnson, Alexandra Roach as Becky, Oliver Woollford as Grant Leetham, Neil Maskell as Arby and Paul Ready as Lee. Utopia follows a small group of a mixed age group of people who find themselves in possession of the manuscript of the sequel of the graphic novel “The Utopia Experiments”. This graphic novel is known to have the worst disasters that will be happening. Wilson, Ian, Becky and Grant are targeted by “The Network”, an organization that they have to avoid to be able to survive or risk being dead. Using the second installment of the novel, the four have to solve the meaning which is hidden within its pages using the manuscript before the disasters become a reality.

Episode 1 from season 1 is about 5 strangers from the online forum for the comic book, who are in possession of the original manuscripts for the novel ‘The Utopia Experiments’, agree to meet. However, they find themselves running from an organization known as The Network, who are after the manuscript and they are willing to kill anyone in the way to find it. Ian, Becky and Wilson meet at the pub, as Grant goes after the novel at the fourth member’s apartment, Bejan, who gets killed by the two Network men. Grant is the fifth member on the forum and is also the only witness. When he runs off with the manuscript, the two men chase him.

The comic book contains different forms of the devil/satan. At the beginning of the episode, we see a person on the bunny costume outside doomsday comics, which can imply the devil. The episode also consists of a strange and creepy soundtrack mostly throughout. We constantly come across the two men from The Network constantly asking for Jessica Hyde whilst many other investigations going on. Whilst The Network is on a search for Jessica, we see an investigation going on about Bejan’s death. The Network finds Wilson and tortures him in order to find out information about the whereabouts of Jessica Hyde. Lee rubs chillies, sand and then bleach into both of Wilson’s eyes and uses the spoon to spoon one of his eye out. Ian and Becky both have false accusations about them, which get them arrested. Ian has been accused of sexual child rape and assault and Becky has been accused of child porn. At the end of this episode, we meet Jessica Hyde, which leaves everyone at a big cliffhanger to what happens next.

The Network –

Arby and Lee are the killers who work for The Network. They are also looking for Jessica Hyde as well as the Utopia Manuscripts. Lee tortures Wilson, but Wilson manages to escape but killing him, but Arby is still alive.

Michael Dugdale –

Michael is a senior civil servant who has an affair on his wife with a Russian prostitute and gets her pregnant. In return, the members of The Network blackmail him to carry out and complete their task for them.

Becky –

Becky is soon becoming a post grad student. While she was young, her mother died and in her late teen years, her dad been diagnosed with a mysterious illness. She is sure that the reason for her father’s death is connected to the Utopia Manuscript, which she is determined to find out the truth.

Ian Johnson –

Ian still lives with his mother in his late twenties and has a job as an IT consultant.

Wilson Wilson –

Wilson is a nerd and geek who manages to remove any trace of himself off of the internet. Arby and Lee torture and almost blind him to find Jessica Hyde’s whereabouts.

Grant Leetham –

Grant is a 11 year old boy with troubles at home. When the group first contact each other on the Utopia forum, he pretends to be a 24 year old. Grant is the one who happens to have the Utopia Manuscript and is also on the run from The Network.

Bejan –

Bejan is the fourth member of the forum. He has the original copy of the Utopia manuscript that The Network is after.

Jessica Hyde –

Jessica is a woman who has been running from The Network for a very long time, more than she can remember. The Network is after her because her dad created the manuscripts for Utopia. Jessica appears at the end of episode 1 in season 1.