The English (TV series)

The English
Genre	Drama Western
Written by	Hugo Blick
Directed by	Hugo Blick
Starring	Emily Blunt Chaske Spencer Rafe Spall Toby Jones Tom Hughes Stephen Rea Nicholas Aaron Valerie Pachner Ciarán Hinds Malcolm Storry Steve Wall Nichola McAuliffe Tonantzin Carmelo Kimberly Norris Guerrero Edward Crook Sule Rimi Cristian Solimeno
Music by	Federico Jusid
Country of origin	United Kingdom United States
Original language	English
Production
Executive producers	Greg Brenman Hugo Blick Emily Blunt Mona Qureshi
Producer	Colin Wratten
Production companies	Amazon Studios Drama Republic Eight Rook Productions All3Media
Original release
Network	BBC Two (United Kingdom) Amazon Prime Video (United States)
Release	10 November 2022 (2022-11-10) – present

The English is a revisionist western drama television series produced by the BBC and Amazon Prime, written and directed by Hugo Blick. It stars Emily Blunt and Chaske Spencer. It premiered in the United Kingdom on BBC Two and iPlayer on 10 November 2022, and in the United States on Amazon Prime Video on 11 November 2022.

Plot

An Englishwoman, Lady Cornelia Locke, comes to the West in 1890 looking for revenge on the man she sees as responsible for the death of her son, and meets Eli Whipp, ex-cavalry scout and member of the Pawnee Nation by birth, on his way to Nebraska to claim the land he is owed for his service in the US army, despite having been told that the white men will not honour their debt. They discover a possible shared history.

Cast and characters

• Emily Blunt as Lady Cornelia Locke
• Chaske Spencer as Sgt. Eli Whipp / Wounded Wolf
• Rafe Spall as David Melmont
• Tom Hughes as Thomas Trafford
• Stephen Rea as Sheriff Robert Marshall
• Valerie Pachner as Martha Myers
• Toby Jones as Sebold Cusk
• Ciaran Hinds as Richard M Watts
• Malcolm Storry as Red Morgan
• Nichola McAuliffe as Black Eyed Mog
• Sule Rimi as Captain Knox
• Edward Crook as Captain Grann
• Cristian Solimeno as Clay Jackson
• Miguel Alvarez as Timothy Flynn
• Steve Wall as Thin 'Kell' Kelly
• Gary Farmer as John Clarke
• Kimberly Norris Guerrero as Mary Clarke
• Tonantzin Carmelo as Touching Ground

Episodes

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date	UK viewers (millions)
1	"What You Want and What You Need"	Hugo Blick	Hugo Blick	November 11, 2022 (2022-11-11) November 10, 2022 (2022-11-10) (BBC 2)	3.14
A US army patrol under the command of Sergeant Eli Whipp, a Pawnee scout, tracks and kills Running Hawk, a wanted Cheyenne commander. Whipp then retires and sets out to claim the land he is owed for his army service. Before leaving, he is warned by one of his men that once he is no longer in the army, he will be viewed as "one of them". At some point thereafter he is captured, tied up and tortured at a remote hostelry owned by Mr Watts. Lady Cornelia Locke, an Englishwoman looking for revenge against the man who killed her son, arrives at the Watts hostelry and is dismayed to see Whipp's condition. She buys his release, but after he has gone she discovers that Watts has been waiting for her and intends to kill her, on the orders of the man she is pursuing. Whipp returns after being involved in a shootout with would-be robbers who attack him and the carriage man Sebold Cusk. Whipp kills Watts, whilst Locke aids him in killing the other men present. Locke explains she is travelling North to Caine County, Wyoming and asks him to help her, convinced that 'magic' has led them together as part of a bigger event. She is also travelling with a huge amount of money in cash, which Watts did not seem to realise. Whipp agrees to accompany her on the journey north, although says he will only take her part of the way. She agrees and the two set off.
2	"Path of the Dead"	Hugo Blick	Hugo Blick	November 11, 2022 (2022-11-11) November 17, 2022 (2022-11-17) (BBC 2)	N/A
At the town of Hoxem, Powder River, English cattle farmer Thomas Trafford discovers that his pregnant cattle have been slaughtered and mutilated. He has an ongoing feud with local farmers Timothy Flynn and Billy Myers, and with the local general store owner Melmont, who is the most influential person in town. Trafford tries to persuade the local sheriff, Sheriff Marshall, to get involved, but Marshall is reluctant and dismisses Trafford's aristocratic background. Elsewhere, a group of outlaws ambush and massacre a caravan of Mennonite settlers. Whipp and Locke encounter and kill the outlaws, and discover that in the destroyed caravan there is a surviving child and a newborn baby, who Whipp cuts out of the dead mother. They encounter a local Indian couple, John and Katie Clarke, who tells them that there is a larger Mennonite group nearby and how to find them. Locke insists on taking the children to them. Whipp refuses and remains behind at the Clarke home with Locke's money.
3	"Vultures on the Line"	Hugo Blick	Hugo Blick	November 11, 2022 (2022-11-11) November 24, 2022 (2022-11-24) (BBC 2)	N/A
Timothy Flynn shoots his wife and himself, while Trafford appropriates Myers's cattle on the basis that they are not branded. Despite the protests of Martha Myers, the seizure is apparently lawful. Trafford tells Martha that Myers is dangerous and, like Flynn, should never have been given a second chance. Billy Myers is later found hanged. Sheriff Marshall investigates the deaths. Locke encounters a traveller who is killed by an Indian for trespassing on a burial site. Later, she locates the Mennonites but both she and Whipp separately come to suspect that the Clarkes are not what they seem. In fact, they are in league with the outlaws, selling them information on travelling groups and then fencing the goods taken from them. When Whipp tries to leave their home, he is taken prisoner and sold to Kills On Water, a Cheyenne chief who wants to know the truth about the Chalk River Massacre fifteen years earlier, where his family died. Locke returns and stabs Katie before holding John at gunpoint until he tells her where to find Whipp.
4	"The Wounded Wolf"	Hugo Blick	Hugo Blick	November 11, 2022 (2022-11-11) December 1, 2022 (2022-12-01) (BBC 2)	N/A
Fifteen years earlier, Trafford arrives in Salt River with his bookkeeper, the enterprising and brutal David Melmont. They encounter a small patrol of soldiers - including Flynn, Myers and their corporal McClintock - and Melmont joins them in massacring the inhabitants of an Indian settlement nearby. Trafford tries to prevent the massacre but is overpowered, and instead goes to report it. Whipp coincidentally arrives late on the scene and sees the aftermath. The troopers invite him to keep quiet, but a blood-covered Melmont baits him. Later, Melmont travels to England to meet Locke, Trafford's fiancée and attempts to defraud her out of £2,000, claiming that Trafford was imprisoned for taking part in the massacre, and needs the money for bail. He also tells her that the three soldiers and Trafford were found in a brothel and the soldiers were dishonourably discharged, not for the massacre, but for visiting the brothel. A letter arrives from Trafford, telling Locke the truth, but it is too late: Melmont overpowers her and takes the money from her before travelling back to America. Back in 1890, Kills On Water tells Whipp that as recompense for not doing more at the time of the massacre, he wants him to eliminate his rival, Black-Eyed Mog, a bandit with a grudge against Native Americans.
5	"The Buffalo Gun"	Hugo Blick	Hugo Blick	November 11, 2022 (2022-11-11) December 8, 2022 (2022-12-08) (BBC 2)	N/A
In Hoxem, Trafford's hayrick is burned and many of his men are killed by a mysterious hooded rider. He decides to leave for Alberta with the herd, although he is advised this is suicidal. Before leaving, he tells the story of the Chalk River massacre to Marshall. He also tells Marshall that Hoxem is built on the burial site of the massacre's victims. Melmont and his associates later sabotaged Trafford's business as revenge for turning them in. Before leaving, Trafford gives Martha her cattle back, saying she deserves a better chance than he had. Marshall's investigation also turns up that the three soldiers and Melmont contracted syphilis in the brothel they visited after the massacre, and this is the reason for Flynn and Myers' deaths, as they (and Flynn's wife) were displaying symptoms. Locke meets and kills Black-Eyed Mog, earning Whipp's freedom from Kills On Water. In the process, she liberates an Indian boy who Mog had held captive. Whipp and Locke grow closer and almost consummate their relationship, but Locke withdraws at the last moment. The boy is later taken by men associated with a telegraph company. Its director tells Whipp and Locke that he is "educating" Indians to become good Americans (in reality, it is implied, his servants). Whipp identifies one of the latest students as Running Hawk's widow, Touching Ground, and reveals that the boy is their son, White Moon. Touching Ground frees White Moon, who leaves with Whipp and Locke, but as they do so, the director begins shooting at White Moon. In the ensuing fight, both White Moon and Locke are wounded, while Touching Ground sacrifices herself to aid their escape. Whipp finds a travelling surgeon, Flathead Jackson, who treats their injuries. In the process, it is revealed that Locke is suffering from syphilis, contracted when Melmont raped her fifteen years earlier. Her son had syphilis from birth and died of it after fourteen years. She entrusts White Moon to Jackson's care and gives him money to start a new business as a travelling Wild West show. She says that he can repay her by sending her a photo of White Moon aged eighteen, to "prove he made it". Jackson also takes a photograph of Whipp and Locke together, so that she has a memento of them before her appearance is ruined by syphilis, but while it is being taken she turns to look at Whipp, blurring her face unrecognisably.
6	"Cherished"	Hugo Blick	Hugo Blick	November 11, 2022 (2022-11-11) December 15, 2022 (2022-12-15) (BBC 2)	N/A
Locke and Whipp arrive in Hoxem, where they meet Martha and Sheriff Marshall. Together they piece together the full history. Myers's son Jed breaks his father's sword and goes in pursuit of Melmont. After he leaves, the group is attacked by the hooded rider, a heavily disfigured McClintock, but Whipp manages to kill him. Whipp and Locke go in pursuit of Melmont and Jed, and encounter the remnants of Trafford's cattle drive: the cattle were swept away in a flash flood and Trafford died trying to save them. Locke and Whipp confront Melmont, who is no longer suffering symptoms from syphilis. He has taken Jed captive after Jed tried to attack him with his father's broken sword. Locke holds him at gunpoint but finds herself unable to pull the trigger: Melmont taunts her that she can't kill him because he is still a piece of her son. Instead, Martha shoots Melmont, and Whipp then stabs him to death with the broken Myers blade. Sheriff Marshall takes Whipp into custody and tells the others to scatter or they will be lynched. On the way back to town, Marshall agrees to let Whipp go and to cover up the circumstances of the Melmont killing, on condition that Whipp leaves forever. Whipp and Locke have a difficult goodbye as he debates whether to leave with her or alone, before heading off alone. Thirteen years later, in 1903, Flathead Jackson's Wild West Show visits England. Locke, now disfigured by syphilis and heavily veiled, visits to speak to White Moon, who now plays the heroic character of Whipp in the show. She suggests that he can leave the show, but although he acknowledges it is a "zoo", he tells her he is proud of who he is and has no intention of becoming an American. The closing shots show footage from the visit of Buffalo Bill's Wild West to England and Wales in 1903, and from the first known Western, Kidnapping by Indians, shot in England in 1899. It also depicts a fictional department store, "Melmont's", established in 1890 and apparently still trading.

Production

In February 2020, Emily Blunt joined the cast of the series, with Hugo Blick writing and directing, and Amazon Studios and BBC Studios set to co-produce. In May 2021, Chaske Spencer, Rafe Spall, Toby Jones, Tom Hughes, Stephen Rea, Valerie Pachner, Ciarán Hinds, Malcolm Storry, Steve Wall, Nichola McAuliffe, Sule Rimi and Cristian Solimeno joined the cast.

Principal photography began in Spain in May 2021 and ended in September 2021.

Reception

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports an 82% approval rating and an average rating of 7.7/10, based on 56 reviews. The website's consensus reads: "A visual knockout elevated by Emily Blunt and Chaske Spencer's performances, The English is a heady and somewhat meandering Western made with admirable craft." On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 74 out of 100 based on 26 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". The Guardian gave it five out of five, stating: "although you might lose track of the details, the plot never becomes impenetrable or the performances less than compelling" citing Spencer and Blunt's performances as “a revelation”.

See also

• Jericho, another British Western-style TV series that re-imagines the construction of a railway viaduct in Yorkshire with genre tropes.

External links

• The English at IMDb