Here’s something Stephen Tompkinson fans can woot about: He’s heading up the cast for the new BBC One drama Truckers!
Written by William Ivory (Made in Dagenham, The Invisibles), >Truckers deals with ordinary people being pushed to extremes, and explores the importance of real human connection in an age when technology belies the connectedness we have and overshadows how isolated we can become.
The five-episode series revolves around a group of truck drivers for a haulage company in Nottingham, with each hour-long story focusing on one character who undergoes a life-altering journey.
The first episode stars Tompkinson (DCI Banks, Wild at Heart) as Malachi Davies, who, although divorced from his wife for 18 months, is still living with her and their grown son (Harry Treadaway, Control, Fish Tank). Malachi thinks their broken marriage can still be fixed, that is until his ex announces she doesn’t love him anymore and is marrying her boyfriend. (Ouch.)
Gobsmacked, Malachi looks takes a long, hard look at himself and his life and doesn’t like what he sees. What follows are “… tears, laughter, fake tan, Viagra, a thong and attempted sex with a letter box as Malachi just tries to get a handle on where his life has been, where it went wrong and how he can maybe put it right.”
Tompkinson said this about the role:
“Occasionally in my career, I’ve been able to say an immediate yes to a project without seeing a script, simply because of the writer’s name. Truckers is certainly up there with William Ivory’s other celebrated works and it is indeed an honour to be a part of it and a genuine thrill to be bringing it to BBC One.”
Other stories include those of…
Steven (Ashley Walters, Inside Men, Outcasts), whose promiscuous, self-serving, and duplicitous ways could cost him contact with his kids, the shining lights of his life.
Wendy (Sian Breckin, Donkey Punch, Tyrannosaur), “an outwardly tough and confident female trucker, giving as good as she gets in a male world.” But her frailties are revealed when she gets into a relationship with Steven.
And Martin (John Dagleish, Beaver Falls, Lark Rise to Candleford), who has been managing the haulage company since his father died, with help from Transport Manager Michelle (Jenn Murray, Dorothy Mills, The Fades). He he has large shoes to fill (or so he believes), and he definitely has his hands full as he attempts to modernize operations in the face of no agreement from the other drivers.
Steve Lightfoot, Executive Producer, Company Pictures, said this about the series:
“William Ivory has written a group of wonderful blue collar characters who leap off the page, with lives we can all relate to – and this cast of exciting actors inhabit them brilliantly to bring these funny and moving stories to life.”
Filming began on the series in Nottingham in May.
The BBC has not yet announced the premiere date for Truckers, and it’s a bit early to know if the series will be picked up on this side of the pond, so stay tuned.
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