Iain De Caestecker
© BBC
The six-episode series stars Lily Loveless and Daniel Kaluuya, both formerly of the UK version of Skins, and is about a reluctant teenage hero, Paul (Iain De Caestecker) who is haunted by apocalyptic dreams that neither his therapist and best friend, Mac (Kaluuya) nor his twin sister, Anna (Loveless) can explain. Paul's dreams intensify as he starts to see spirits of the dead, known as The Fades, all around him.
They're everywhere but they can't be detected by living beings. But an embittered and vengeful Fade has found a way to break through, and Paul, Mac and their friends may be the only ones who can save the world--as if they didn't have enough problems.
The series is written by Jack Thorne, who's written several episodes of the teen ensemble drama Skins; he also co-created Cast-Offs, a mockumentary presenting six disabled individuals participating in a fictional elimination reality show.
"The Fades was born from a trip into executive producer Sue Hogg's office," Thorne told Digital Spy. "She asked me what drama of the last ten years I wished I'd written. I said the American cable show Freaks & Geeks, I was wearing a Ghostbusters T-shirt, [and] she said, 'What about Freaks & Geeks meets Ghostbusters?" Sounds like a Whose Line Is it Anyway? challenge.
"But the further we've gone along," Thorne went on, "the more seriously we've taken the fantasy and the mythology and so the comedy is subtler and a newer, fresher, hopefully more exciting show has emerged."
The Fades originally had the working title Touch; fortunately that's been changed--not only is it suggestive of different content, but it would have created confusion with Tim Kring's current project. The UK air date is penciled in for fall 2011; expect BBC America to follow the UK transmission date as closely as possible.
| Follow me on Twitter | Follow me on Facebook |
Comments