The Fall Information

The Fall is a British crime drama television series filmed and set in Northern Ireland. The series is created and written by Allan Cubitt, produced by Artists Studio, and shown on RT One in the Republic of Ireland and BBC Two in the UK. It stars Gillian Anderson as DSI Stella Gibson and Jamie Dornan as serial killer Paul Spector.

The series premiered in the Republic of Ireland on RT One on 12 May 2013, and in the UK on BBC Two on 13 May 2013. The second series began in the Republic of Ireland on 9 November and in the UK on 13 November 2014. The third series will premiere on RT One on 25 September and on BBC Two on 29 September 2016.

The title is a reference to the line 'Falls the shadow' from the poem "The Hollow Men" by T. S. Eliot.

Plot

Metropolitan Police Superintendent Stella Gibson, a senior investigating officer tasked with reviewing investigations, is seconded to the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) in order to assess the progress of a murder investigation that has remained active longer than 28 days. When it becomes apparent a serial killer is on the loose, local detectives must work with Stella to find and capture Paul Spector, who is attacking young professional women in the city of Belfast. As time passes Stella's team works tirelessly to build a case, but they are met with complications both inside and outside the PSNI. Paul, concurrently, builds a relationship with his children's babysitter, Katie, to unknown ends. As Spector's world comes crashing down, both literally and figuratively, it may turn out to be his professional, and not his personal, decisions that cause the killer to face a fate he did not expect.

Development

Series 1

On 3 February 2012, BBC Two picked up The Fall series with a five episode order. The series was written by Allan Cubitt and produced for BBC Two by Artists Studio and BBC Northern Ireland, with funding from Northern Ireland Screen and the European Regional Development Fund. Gub Neal and Julian Stevens produced, with Cubitt, Justin Thomson-Glover, Patrick Irwin, and Stephen Wright serving as executive producers. Jakob Verbruggen directed the first series. The series premiered in the Republic of Ireland on RT One on 12 May 2013, and in the UK on BBC Two on 13 May 2013.

Writer Cubitt was inspired by guitar manufacturing companies when naming some of his characters; both Stella and Gibson are brands of guitar, as are Bacon & Day, Brawley, Breedlove, Burns, Eastwood, Hagstrom, Kay, Martin, Music Man, Paul Reed Smith, Spector, Stagg and Tom Anderson.

Series 2

BBC Two renewed the show for a second series on 27 May 2013. On 21 October 2013, it was announced that Jakob Verbruggen would not be returning to direct The Fall second series. Instead Cubitt would direct, with production due to begin in February 2014. Series star Gillian Anderson became an executive producer for the programme from its second series. Production of series 2 ended in June 2014. Series 2 began in the Republic of Ireland on Sunday, 9 November on RT One and in the United Kingdom on BBC Two Thursday, 13 November 2014.

Series 3

In March 2015, it was announced that the BBC had commissioned a third series of The Fall. Cubitt stated that this series was conceived "in the hope of further exploring the characters and themes that are at the heart of [the drama]". Cubitt stated that he has already envisaged how the show's third series will conclude. Carol Moorhead replaced Julian Stevens as second producer of the third series. Filming took place in Belfast between December 2015 and April 2016. The third series got an exclusive look at the Edinburgh International Television Festival on 25 August 2016. It will premiere in the Republic of Ireland on Sunday, 25 September on RT One and in the UK on Thursday, 29 September 2016 on BBC Two.

Future

It was reported that Cubitt has ideas for several seasons past Spector's arc. In September 2016, Cubitt confirmed that third series is Dornan's last, but expressed intention for future series. Cubitt added that the fourth series "isn't going to be straight away." Anderson stated: "I'm excited by the idea of potentially revisiting it in a few years, to see what transpires in Stella's life afterwards."

Casting

Casting announcements began in February 2012, with Gillian Anderson first to be cast in the series as Detective Superintendent Stella Gibson. Next to join the series was Northern Irish actor Jamie Dornan as serial killer Paul Spector and Gerard McCarthy as Kevin McSwain. Archie Panjabi, Emmett Scanlan and Karen Hassan were next to be cast, with Panjabi playing Reed Smith (originally known as Paula Reed Smith), Scanlan playing DC Glenn Martin and Hassan playing Annie Brawley. It was later announced that Niamh McGrady, Bronagh Waugh, John Lynch, Simon Delaney and Sainn Brennan had joined the series. The main cast for the first series consisted of 12 cast members.

Both Anderson and Dornan returned for the second series of The Fall, as did supporting cast members Waugh, McGrady, Lynch, Panjabi, and Stuart Graham. Recurring cast members Aisling Franciosi, Hassan, Scanlan, Nick Lee, Valene Kane, Brian Milligan, and Brennan were promoted to main cast status. Ian McElhinney returned in episode 1, whilst Ben Peel returned in episode 2, both receiving guest star billing. Main cast newcomers included Brongh Taggart as Detective Gail McNally, Irish actor Colin Morgan as Sergeant Tom Anderson, alongside Sean McGinley and Jonjo O'Neill. Kelly Gough, as PC Hagstrom, was cast in an extended arc. The main cast was expanded from the 12 (in series 1), to 18 in series 2.

Anderson, Dornan, McGrady, Lynch, Waugh, Graham, Franciosi, Kane, Scanlan, Taggart, Morgan and O'Neill will return in series three. New cast members for the third series include Ruth Bradley, Richard Coyle, Aisling Bea, Krister Henriksson and Aidan McArdle.

Cast and characters

See List of The Fall characters for more information

• Valene Kane as Rose Stagg (series 2-3)
• Emmett J. Scanlan as Glenn Martin (series 2-3)
• Brongh Taggart as Gail McNally (series 2-3)
• Jonjo O'Neill as Tom Stagg (series 2-3)
• Colin Morgan as Tom Anderson (series 2-3)

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Series 1

• Frank McCusker as Garrett Brink
• Ian McElhinney as Morgan Monroe

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Series 2

• Nick Lee as Ned Callan
• Brian Milligan as Jimmy Tyler
• Sainn Brennan as Liz Tyler
• Sean McGinley as Peter Jensen

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Episodes

See List of The Fall episodes for more information

International broadcast

The first series aired on Bravo in Canada. The series also aired across Latin America during September 2013 for subscribers of the TV satellite provider DirecTV. The Fall was aired in the exclusive channel OnDIRECTV in high definition. HBO Europe has picked up the series to air on their Cinemax channels in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Moldova, Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Albania. Estonian National Broadcasting started to run the series in Estonia on channel ETV (Eesti Televisioon) on 7 December 2014. Hot (Israel) started screening the series on its video on demand service in February 2014. Reruns have aired on M3 in Canada since June 2014. In Australia, the first series was shown on UKTV (Foxtel) in April/May 2014. The series began airing on SBS One starting 23 October 2014. In New Zealand, the series began airing on the Sky channel SoHo on Thursday 29 August 2013. In Italy the first series was shown on SkyAtlantic. In The Netherlands the first series was aired by KRO in HD on public channel NPO 1 between 14 March 2015 and 11 April 2015.

In Australia, series 2 was shown on BBC First in November/December 2014 - within 48 hours of the first broadcasts in the UK, and on SBS One in November 2015. In the Netherlands series 2 began airing on KRO in HD on public channel NPO 1 on 29 August 2015.

In Germany, the show was given the title "Tod in Belfast" meaning "Death in Belfast". Series 1 & 2 were aired together in Germany on ZDF from 15 November to 16 December 2015. The two series were shown in a recut containing 6 episodes with each being 90 minutes long and a total of 540 minutes altogether. This equates to approximately 120 minutes of the whole material of series 1 and 2 being cut. The uncut version was later shown in re-runs by channels ZDFneo and Sky Krimi.

Reception

Reviews for The Fall have been very positive. Both the first and the second season received a score of 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. The first season has a score of 85 on Metacritic.

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominee(s)	Result
2013	Crime Thriller Awards	The Best Actress Dagger	Gillian Anderson
2014	Edgar Allan Poe Awards	Best Television Episode Teleplay	Allan Cubitt
	Broadcasting Press Guild Awards	Breakthrough Award	Jamie Dornan
		Best Actress	Gillian Anderson
		Writer's Award	Allan Cubitt
	National Television Awards	Best Detective (longlisted)	Gillian Anderson
		Best Drama (longlisted)	The Fall
	BAFTA Awards	Best Leading Actor	Jamie Dornan
	Irish Film and Television Awards	Best Television Drama	The Fall
		Best Lead Actor - Television	Jamie Dornan
		Best Original Score (Film/TV Drama)	David Holmes
		Director of Photography - Drama	Ruairi O'Brien
		Make-Up & Hair - Drama	The Fall
		Production Design - Drama	Tom McCullough
2015	Satellite Awards	Best Actress - Television Series Drama	Gillian Anderson
		Best Television Series - Drama	The Fall
	Golden Nymph Awards	Best Actress - Television Series Drama	Gillian Anderson
		Best Drama Series	The Fall
	Irish Film and Television Awards	Best Supporting Actress - Drama	Aisling Franciosi
		Best Actor - Drama	Jamie Dornan
		Best Television Drama	The Fall
	Broadcasting Press Guild Awards	Best Actress (longlisted)	Gillian Anderson
		Best Actor (longlisted)	Jamie Dornan
		Best Drama (longlisted)	The Fall
	British Screenwriters' Awards	Best British Crime Writing	Allan Cubitt
	Royal Television Society Northern Ireland Awards	Best Drama	The Fall
	Sichuan TV Festival - International Gold Panda Awards	Best Actress	Gillian Anderson
	C21 International Drama Awards	Best Female Performance	Gillian Anderson
		Best Male Performance	Jamie Dornan
		Best Returning Series	The Fall
		Best English Language Drama	The Fall
2016	National Television Awards	Drama Performance (longlisted)	Gillian Anderson
		Drama Performance (longlisted)	Jamie Dornan
		Best Drama (longlisted)	The Fall
	Jupiter Award	Best International TV Series	The Fall

Home media releases

The first series was made available in full in the United States via Netflix's "Watch Instantly" service starting 28 May 2013, and airs on Bravo and Netflix in Canada.

The second series was broadcast on Netflix's "Watch Instantly" service, starting in January 2015, in the United States. It was also broadcast on Netflix in Canada. In Latin America, Netflix began broadcasting the season on 16 January 2015, at 12:01am.

The third series will be available on Netflix on 29 October 2016.

Series		Originally aired		DVD release dates			Blu-ray disc release date
		First aired	Last aired	Region 1	Region 2	Region 4	Region A	Region B
	1
	2	13 November 2014	17 December 2014

French remake

In August 2016, it was announced that the French private national TV channel TF1 is remaking the series, with Emmanuelle Seigner and Melvil Poupaud as the leads. Supporting cast includes: Jean-Hugues Anglade, Claire Keim, Patrick Chesnais, Brengre Krief and Sofia Essadi. Filming began in Lyon on 12 September 2016.