Culprits: Heist thriller series starring Nathan Stewart-Jarrett Gemma Arterton and Eddie Izzard comes to ITVX

Opting out of the New Year’s Eve jollity tonight? There’s a crime thriller ready and waiting to give you that gritty hit instead.

Culprits centres on family man Joe Petrus, who is living the American dream with his fiancé and step-children. However, they hav no idea that Joe was involved in a mysterious crime three years ago and his dangerous past is about to catch up with him – when a killer starts targeting the crew behind the crime.

He returns to London to track down his old gang and find out who is coming after them. The show – which initially aired in November last year on Disney+ but has just been made available on the ITVX streaming platform – boasts a big-name cast including Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Niamh Algar, Gemma Arterton and Eddie Izzard.

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Although a high stakes robbery occurs in Culprits, writer and director J Blakeson has said it is “not a heist show”. That’s because, says Arteton – who plays Dianne, the mastermind – the eight episodes are actually all about the aftermath.

Gemma Arterton in Culprits.Gemma Arterton in Culprits.
Gemma Arterton in Culprits.

She says: “I watched a lot of heist stuff in preparation for this and a lot of the ones that we know are kind of cheeky, and people love watching the heist itself and all of that. But actually this one is quite dark and it's gritty at times. There is this black humour that goes all the way through it, and that's very J in style. Because it is a character piece and because we have so much time — it's eight hours — you have time to really get to know the characters and see their different sides. So hopefully this is a new kind of heist story: obviously there is that satisfying moment of watching the heist take place and it's really well done — it takes place over the whole series, with new bits being slotted in and new details going back over time.”

Arterton had previously worked with Blakeson on his 2009 film The Disappearance of Alice Creed.

“I have a shorthand with J: I know what he likes, and it's very easy,” says Arteton. “Also, the scripts were so fun, I mean, just really cool. My character Dianne is probably the coldest character I've ever played, the most calculating. Any exuberance that I usually bring to roles I’ve had to kind of sit on — she just isn't an exuberant person.”

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Stewart-Jarrett’s character Joe, formerly known as ‘Muscle’, worked for various London criminals before being recruited to an elite heist crew that stole millions of pounds. He is living a new life in Washington under a fake identity until the past confronts him.

CulpritsCulprits
Culprits

Initially, the London-born actor wasn’t so sure how he fitted into the script, but he kept on reading. "It came in and there was a lot going on. My agent said, ‘You should read this thing’, and I dithered and then she said, ‘You really have to read this!’ I think I opened it up and it said ‘Muscle’ on the first page. I was like, ‘Oh. No, no, no.’ But then it only took five or six pages in for me to be going, ‘This is really amazing.’

"And then wonderfully and unusually they had sent three episodes at once. J writes beautifully, rhythmically, and there was so much to grab on to with the character. The language and the text just flowed. And that's sometimes unusual. And the part? I didn't think I could do it. Which is always a huge attraction.”

Izzard plays Vincent Hawkes, a mysterious, rich and dangerous man who viewers learn more about as the story unfolds.

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It gave Izzard the chance to play a villain with some nuance.

Nathan Stewart-Jarrett in Culprits.Nathan Stewart-Jarrett in Culprits.
Nathan Stewart-Jarrett in Culprits.

“If you think about the more modern Bond villains they have got better and better, much more nuanced. That's the thing: you've got to give them third dimensions,” says Izzard.

"You’ve got to land them in a space of humanity so that people can say, ‘Okay, well, that's an odd person but I can see them existing.’ Hitchcock said, ‘You've got to play the charming side of it’, which is why Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart started figuring in his work.

"Hopefully I can be charming, so I've played that side of me. So, if you have got to a position in life where you have a certain amount of power or sway or whatever, you could probably imagine what it's like if you start going off on one.

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"I personally try not to go off on one or get angry… but you can feel where that edge is. It's an intriguing place to play.

"Hopefully, if you can give them a third dimension and make them couched in a certain reality then it should play well for an audience. That's what I think they want: the dark characters are now getting more and more nuanced in this golden age of drama.”

Culprits is available on ITVX now.

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