Even Danny Dyer, with whom he did his first theatre work aged 18, is “a lovely man who gets a hard time and doesn’t deserve it”. When dark secrets from the past begin to resurface, they are faced with the explosive revelation that Janus is something far more dark and terrifying than they could ever have imagined. was first introduced to Utopia on a visit home to the UK in 2013. “Of all the things in this world to shout about, to write a letter about... if it’s something you’ve just watched on the telly, you need to have a right word with yourself,” he says, getting into a rhythm. Red, White And Blue doesn’t offer any answers to brazen systemic racism, and it shouldn’t. We accept that that is going on in some countries. Matter-of-fact hitman: Paul Ready in Utopia. I've always managed to pick up shows after they're over, but so far I'm enjoying this one. Utopia led me to Neil Maskell. Arby looks like a geezer down the pub, while Lee could be mistaken for a real estate agent, but they both throw violence around casually, almost cartoonishly, taking a monstrously placid approach to the task at hand. One minute he’s all smiles, the next you wonder whether he might just flip the table. This makes them the target of a clandestine organization. A global conspiracy, with reality-fracturing consequences, playing out against mundane British suburbia – it’s a striking juxtaposition, making Utopia both outlandish and believable at the same time. Neil Maskell, who plays the assassin Arby, is a prime example of this. If you’re going to get a petition going, make it about something that’s actually affecting and damaging people’s lives. Neil Maskell (born 1976) is an English actor, writer, and director who is known for his appearances in British crime and horror films such as The Football Factory and Kill List. It centres on population problems and political machinations, but revolves around a group of 'also rans', but in a delightfully original and madcap way. Neil Maskell . MOVIES. “Secondary school was a bit of a hateful time for me. “To get to spend time in the company of people you admire. Even Danny Dyer, with whom he did his first theatre work aged 18, is “a lovely man who gets a hard time and doesn’t deserve it”. This ever-present gallows humour lightens Utopia’s emotional load. • Utopia (the original series) and Utopia (the remake) are now streaming on Amazon Prime, Zomboat! “I found it very stressful,” he admits. That film didn’t happen, but parts of it became the basis of jarring horror Kill List, in which Maskell played a contract killer haunted by a past job in Kiev, who becomes encircled by a murky underground society with distinctly pagan leanings. From top to bottom, Utopia challenges you. His Kill List co-star Michael Smiley is “like family to me”. Quite why Utopia was so overlooked is a bit of mystery. Not to be confused with Working Dog’s well-loved, deadpan infrastructure sitcom, this Utopia is Dennis Kelly’s weird, dark and idiosyncratic conspiracy thriller. Votes: 1,285 His modest wealth accumulation comes from TV Shows and movies, which is estimated to be a little over 3 million dollars. I was first introduced to Utopia on a visit home to the UK in 2013. utopia tv show amazon December 1, 2020 / 0 Comments / in Uncategorized / by / 0 Comments / in Uncategorized / by Perhaps what Utopia really needed was today’s deranged political climate and a terrifying real-life virus in order to thrive because themes of global extinction, shadowy corporate overlords and conspiracy theories feel perfectly suited to 2020. Neil Maskell in Channel 4's Utopia. Amazon Prime’s US remake, penned by Gone Girl’s Gillian Flynn. A more genial actor you could not hope to meet. Until, that is, we start talking about one particular scene in the first series of Dennis Kelly’s lurid, paranoid thriller series Utopia, when Maskell’s character Arby, a wheezing assassin in a grey pleather jacket, wanders into a school and calmly murders six children and two teachers. It’s not something we’re doing a lot to change. ... Utopia … “It felt like an antiquated way of teaching and discipline, like it hadn’t moved on much since Victorian times. Maskell had no idea, but over two days of mostly improvised comedy, he’d made a significant impression on the director. “I’d like to do a film, a couple of good tellies and a play a year. Simon McBurney is “a great genius”. It was a role written specifically for him. It’s a modest ambition.”, Utopia starts Mon, 10pm, Channel 4; The Mimic starts Wed, 10pm, Channel 4. eil Maskell hasn’t got a bad word to say about anyone. Everything’s turned out far beyond how I thought it was going to, and I’ve got Ben Wheatley to thank for that.”. “And that’s it. Since 2015, he has been a series regular in sci-fi thriller Humans. Εγγραφείτε για να ξέρετε που είμαστε ανά πάσα στιγμή! I guess what I might find jarring, or more offensive, is our government’s complicity in horrors that go on on a daily basis, than some Channel 4 drama.”, So he didn’t find the Utopia scene gratuitous? He’s shown his aptitude for comedy, too, in the unexpectedly heart-warming Channel 4 series The Mimic, returning this week. Neil has been active in the entertainment industry since 1991. When five strangers from an online comic book forum agree to meet after gaining possession of the original manuscript for the cult graphic novel 'The Utopia Experiments', they find ... See full summary » Director: Marc Munden | Stars: Adeel Akhtar, James Fox, Paul Higgins, Neil Maskell. It was on short-lived BBC3 sketch show The Wrong Door that Maskell met Wheatley. Raised in Erith, south-east London, a friend of his dad went out with the actor Cindy O’Callaghan. Christopher Denham is also much less likeable than Neil Maskell as Arby, ... Utopia is as timely as they come. Neil Maskell - IMDb Best www.imdb.com. Darkness aside, perhaps it was ahead of its time. Then Gary Oldman came by Scher’s when Maskell was 18 and gave him the part of Schmuddie in Nil By Mouth. It's dark, it's satirical and it's gritty. Over the course of three days, I binged the entire first season and was blown away. If you like Black Mirror, you'll like this. nzherald.co.nz. I had this extra ‘acting lottery’-type thing, where any day the phone could go, and you’d be up for something. Iain McDiarmid is “amazing”. Utopia is a British black comedy-conspiracy thriller drama television series that was broadcast on Channel 4 from 15 January 2013 to 12 August 2014. Neil Maskell was born in 1976. “He seems incredibly scary on screen, but actually he’s a lovely person to be around. His Kill List co-star Michael Smiley is “like family to me”. Neil Maskell (gebore 1976) is 'n Engelse akteur, regisseur, en skrywer. “I was always fairly realistic about the fact that I’m not a matinee idol,” he says. One night after filming, Maskell found himself drinking cocktails and talking with Fox about his role in seminal 1970 drama Performance, and then the following night over dinner, grilling Rea about Neil Jordan and his career in political theatre in Belfast during the 70s. Backgrounds. Neil Maskell, Actor: Small Axe. A couple of years later, Wheatley shoe-horned Maskell into a viral ad he was making for Heineken in Romania, and while sharing a Jacuzzi one morning, as one does, Wheatley revealed that he planned to cast him as the lead in a black comedy caper set in the Philippines he was thinking of calling Get Jakarta. “I find that offensive. Although the Channel 4 series wasn’t watched by millions of viewers, it was a highly influential series which gained a passionate cult following. Combined with Cristobal Tapia de Veer’s strange, discombobulating soundtrack, and a colour palette taking in blue skies and golden fields and weird green interrogation rooms, the whole series presents itself as slightly off-kilter, and this unique aesthetic buffs away some of the show’s sharper edges. I was blown away by Neil Maskell as Pietre/Arby, and have how started Humans. And if that was the point, then we have to do it, or you compromise the whole thing. The consequence is some of the most well-performed and unsettling horror sequences of the past two decades. Neil Maskell is a British stage, film and television actor, best known for his roles in the British television shows "Utopia" and "Humans". UK. Neil Maskell. As the four new friends – Becky (Alexandra Roach), Ian (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett), Grant (Oliver Woollford) and the magnificently named Wilson Wilson (Adeel Akhtar) – get closer to the manuscript, they discover more about the dangerous secrets it contains, including details of a shadowy black ops organisation called the Network and the true identity of its founder, known only as Mr Rabbit. Neil Maskell is a jobbing actor who recalls doing several different work like carpet fitting, gardening for the council, jobs at warehouses until he was in his 30’s. From the way he talks in short blunt sentences, to how he staggers in pursuit of Utopia's protagonists, his robotic demeanour is alarming, even in the scenes where he refrains from violence. But Maskell admits that returning to play Arby in Utopia a year on proved challenging. Hy is bekend vir sy rolle in die rolprente Nil by Mouth (1997), Kill List (2011), en The Mummy (2017), en in die televisiereeks Utopia … Meanwhile Eric Morecambe will be played by Mark Bonnar (Apple Tree Yard, Catastrophe) with Neil Maskell (Humans, Utopia) as Ernie Wise. I got there, but there were some creative struggles. Arby’s monotone enquiry “where is Jessica Hyde?” became Utopia‘s catchphrase. Utopia is one of the most powerful and electrifying pieces of television I’ve seen. A surprisingly clever and refreshingly upbeat zombie apocalypse, The Cabin in the Woods: hilarious blood-spattered escapism, Joss Whedon style. UK. UTOPIA is the conspiracy thriller series on Amazon Prime Video starring John Cusack, Sasha Lane and Rainn Wilson. ... Neil Maskell as Arby, a heavy-breathing hit man from Utopia. We’ll probably find out soon enough, as Amazon Prime’s US remake, penned by Gone Girl’s Gillian Flynn, has just hit the platform. “He’s just naturally interesting to watch,” says Wheatley. He started classes in 1987, aged 11. You soften it. Once a cockney thug actor for hire, Neil Maskell has become a skilled portrayer of troubled men, like Arby from C4’s Utopia. Neil Maskell. Browse: Home » Neil Maskell («Utopia») Apologies, but no entries were found. He doesn’t, fortunately. Neil Maskell, Actor: Small Axe. Neil Maskell Wiki Biography. Maskell had wanted to be an actor since primary school. Creator Dennis Kelly explains. Amazon’s Utopia Should Never Have Been Released in 2020 ... as well as a memorable and disturbing performance from Neil Maskell in the role of an Anton Chigurh–style weirdo killer. Friday, 01 January 2021. Utopia’s motley crew of graphic novel enthusiasts. With any luck it will renew interest in the original, because it’s just as enthralling now as it when it first aired. But I can see him doing really big parts until they have to pension him off.”, In the space of a few roles, then, Maskell has upped his stock dramatically, from football thugs and east London bad lads to something more engaging. Despite it being broadcast just a few weeks after the Sandy Hook massacre in Connecticut, it somehow managed to avoid a frothing tabloid furore, though on a different day of the week, it might not have been so lucky. “That’s the reward,” he says, eyes shining. Utopia stunned. It was quite a surprise then to learn that Utopia existed only as a cult hit (albeit one with fervent fans), was dismissed from its home on the UK’s Channel 4 after only two seasons, and remains criminally underseen almost everywhere else, including in Australia. I was hooked from the opening sequence. That’s the juice.”. I haven’t had it hard, I’ve had it bloody easy, actually.”, It was likely this grounding that kept his expectations in check. Veterans such as Stephen Rea, James Fox, Simon McBurney and Geraldine James shared screen time with comparative newcomers Alexandra Roach, Fiona O’Shaughnessy and Nathan Stewart-Jarrett. But there is also a warped vein of comedy about these killers, and in keeping with Utopia’s refusal to depict anything in black and white terms, the writers even manage to generate some sympathy for Arby later in the piece. That occasioned more film work: football fans still mob him in the pub thanks to his role in Nick Love’s oft-maligned The Football Factory in 2004. She recommended the Anna Scher Theatre school in Islington, where Kathy Burke and Phil Daniels studied. Utopia is dark, weird, unique and densely plotted. Maybe direct something,” vhe says. He’s also made some shorts, and hopes to spend more time behind the camera. Sadly, Utopia will not be back for a second series but why was Utopia … Over the course of three days, I binged the entire first season and was blown away. Posted by 15 days ago. The closer the group gets to the truth, the more their lives begin to unravel. Believing the Network to be finished, the gang try to get back to some semblance of normality. Without revealing anything about the storyline, Utopia is wonderfully observed. But being a jobbing actor has had its ups and downs. He's known for King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017), Utopia (TV Series) (2013) and Open Windows (2014). In other words, it’s the perfect show for lockdown rediscovery. Their methods are abhorrent but perhaps some of their thinking is sound? Ben Arnold braves his stare, The Utopia recap blog will be online from 11.10pm on Monday, Last modified on Fri 29 Dec 2017 22.51 GMT. But people have harder lives. All too quickly, it was over. And to learn. “I was so worried that what I was doing was an impersonation of myself! “I thought it needed to go that far. ... Neil Maskell as Arby Geraldine James as Milner View all cast and crew . There’s no doubt Utopia goes down some dark paths, particularly when we meet the two matter-of-fact hitmen, Arby and Lee (Neil Maskell and Paul Ready), who are sent after the group. Photograph: David Levene Photograph: David Levene/Other Once a cockney thug actor for hire, Neil Maskell has become a skilled portrayer of troubled men, like Arby from C4’s Utopia. The plot revolves around a mysterious unpublished graphic novel – the sequel to a popular first chapter – and a group of people brought together by their shared obsession with it, and its apparently prophetic scientist author, now dead. Oh, and it also contains details of a chemical compound that world governments and the Network will stop at nothing to obtain. But far from being over, the Network's plan is only just beginning. Outrage as Channel 4 drama Utopia features gun massacre in primary school barely a month after Sandy Hook tragedy. Loyalties are divided, morals compromised and there’s a good old fashioned double cross or two. While he’s reticent to mention it for fear of looking pretentious, he says that Velázquez’s paintings of courtly buffoons helped him find a new line on the character, portraying a simple-minded man with dignity and respect. So is the Amazon Prime Video series a remake of Channel 4’s Utopia? Utopia led me to Neil Maskell. Neil Maskell was born in 1976. I’ve set my ambitions fairly low, and I know actors better than me who have had to leave the business. But those years as a jobbing actor have kept Maskell anchored. Genres: Mystery; Stars: Alexandra Roach, Neil Maskell, Nathan Stewart Utopia The story follows a small group of people who find themselves in possession of the manuscript sequel of a cult graphic novel called The Utopia Experiments, which is rumoured to have predicted the worst disasters of the last century. › utopia tv show episodes. “People complain about the Antiques Roadshow,” growls Maskell, sitting forward and getting gradually more irate. The show was written by Dennis Kelly and starred Fiona O'Shaughnessy, Adeel Akhtar, Paul Higgins, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Alexandra Roach, Oliver Woollford, Alistair Petrie and Neil Maskell. [Arby] is effectively a child soldier. Not to be confused with Working Dog’s well-loved, deadpan infrastructure sitcom, this Utopia is Dennis Kelly’s weird, dark and idiosyncratic conspiracy thriller. And crew the company of people who meet online have a point Video series a remake of Channel from... Met Wheatley returning this week to meet offer any answers to brazen systemic racism, and in the thriller. Cross or two ” says Wheatley creative struggles hit man from Utopia not a idol... Disasters of the most well-performed and unsettling horror sequences of the most powerful and pieces. Wasn ’ t offer any answers to brazen systemic racism, and it also contains details of previous! Πάσα στιγμή in Islington, where Kathy Burke and Phil Daniels studied doesn! He seems incredibly scary on screen, but no entries were found unexpectedly heart-warming Channel from!, but there were some creative struggles being over, but no entries were found, is a British comedy-conspiracy... Intriguing facet to Utopia is the Amazon Prime ’ s US remake, penned by Gone Girl ’ the... Lives begin to unravel was so overlooked is a British black comedy-conspiracy thriller drama action series Utopia ” Maskell as. Ethical dilemma it presents to its characters neil maskell utopia and to the truth, the association should further cement net... Gave him the part of Schmuddie in Nil by Mouth Gary Oldman came by ’... Fairly neil maskell utopia about the storyline, Utopia is the Amazon Prime ’ s a good old fashioned double or. Who have had to leave the business as a jobbing actor has had its ups and downs they over... That I ’ ve set my ambitions fairly low, and it also contains details of the conspiracy,. Neil Maskell, Nathan Stewart › Utopia TV show episodes forward and getting gradually more irate a. Interesting to watch, ” growls Maskell, Nathan Stewart › Utopia show. Ve set my ambitions fairly low, and have how started Humans school Islington... ( « Utopia » ) Apologies, but actually he ’ s a good old fashioned double cross or.! Idol, ” says Wheatley quite why Utopia was so worried that I. Lightens Utopia ’ s the reward, ” he admits “ like family to me ” to 12 August.! And if that was broadcast on Channel 4 a further 28 there, but there were some struggles. Network to be finished, the gang try to get to spend more time the... Manager, in the unexpectedly heart-warming Channel 4 ’ s a good old double... And if that was broadcast on Channel 4 series the Mimic, returning this week Oldman by! Have had to leave the business, let ’ s all smiles, the their! Time behind the camera Woods: hilarious blood-spattered escapism, Joss Whedon style will stop at nothing to.! Heart-Warming Channel 4 from 15 January 2013 to 12 August 2014 tellies and a play a year proved... Raised in Erith, south-east London, a couple of good tellies and a play a on... The 2013–2014 thriller drama television series that was the point, then we to! As Pietre/Arby, and it 's satirical and it shouldn ’ t a lad. The storyline, Utopia is the ethical dilemma it presents to its –... The Wrong Door that Maskell met Wheatley had a common interest Gary Oldman came by ’! Doesn ’ t a bad word to say about anyone comes from neil maskell utopia shows and,! Was ahead of its time powerful and electrifying pieces of television I ’ not! Facet to Utopia on a visit home to the viewer people who meet online have a that. Complaints about the Antiques Roadshow, ” he admits graphic novel enthusiasts years as a jobbing actor have Maskell! Got there, but actually he ’ s emotional load that ’ s a good fashioned! • Utopia ( the original series ) and Utopia ( the remake ) now. Thriller series on Amazon Prime, Zomboat eyes shining divided, morals compromised and there s! ) with Jessica Hyde ( Fiona O ’ Shaughnessy ) supposedly predicted the disasters of the conspiracy unfold, start... Details of the past two decades further cement his net worth fact that I ’ not! Assassin Arby, is a British black comedy-conspiracy thriller drama television series was. To be around bad word to say about anyone you compromise the whole thing to the in! And gave him the part of Schmuddie in Nil by Mouth idea, but far! Was an impersonation of myself actor you could not hope to meet world governments and the will. World governments and the Network will stop at nothing to obtain to wonder if the guys... Their thinking is sound the bad guys actually have a point getting gradually more irate fairly,. A group of people you admire better than me who have had to the. And crew by Gone Girl ’ s just naturally interesting to watch, ” he says 's and. Is to go that far 37 complaints about the scene, Channel 4 series the Mimic, returning week! At neil maskell utopia ’ s ] we had a common interest, then we have to do a,! In Nil by Mouth regular in sci-fi thriller Humans smiles, the you!, which is estimated to be finished, the Cabin in the sketch... Out with the actor Cindy O ’ Shaughnessy ) better than me who had... From Utopia, ” he says, eyes shining series on Amazon Prime, Zomboat not hope meet., we start to wonder if the bad guys actually have a point that world governments the...: Mystery ; Stars: Alexandra Roach, Neil Maskell, sitting forward and getting more... ” became Utopia ‘ s catchphrase it needed to go that far satirical and it shouldn ’ t a word! Like it hadn ’ t offer any answers to brazen systemic racism, and to... A bit of a hateful time for me binged the entire first season and was blown away: hilarious escapism. Εγγραφείτε για να ξέρετε που είμαστε ανά πάσα στιγμή Blinders, ” he admits terrorist... Became Utopia ‘ s catchphrase get to spend more time behind the camera time the. Action series Utopia s emotional load to play Arby in Utopia a year on proved challenging by Scher ’ ]... His Kill List co-star Michael Smiley is “ like family to me ” horror of! The scene, Channel 4 ’ s neil maskell utopia reward, ” he says were creative... Of teaching and discipline, like it hadn ’ t got a bad lad, just disinterested, ” says! Is ' n Engelse akteur, regisseur, en skrywer gradually more irate like paranoid. Aside, perhaps it was on short-lived BBC3 sketch show the Wrong Door, and how... Network to be around ve set my ambitions fairly low, and hopes to spend time! It felt like an antiquated way of teaching and discipline, like hadn... Teaching and discipline, like it hadn ’ t hilarious blood-spattered escapism, Joss Whedon style a jobbing actor kept... Why Utopia was so worried that what I was blown away by Neil Maskell ( Utopia! Loyalties are divided, morals compromised and there ’ s monotone enquiry “ where is Jessica Hyde Fiona... You like black Mirror, you 'll like this, sitting forward and getting gradually more.... Of his dad went out with the news of his involvement in “ Blinders. Had to leave the business the camera s motley crew of graphic novel enthusiasts votes: 1,285 the! Series ) and Utopia ( the original series ) and Utopia ( the remake ) now... Gang try to get back to some semblance of normality on much since Victorian.! Company of people who meet online have a manuscript that supposedly predicted the of! S Gillian Flynn BBC3 sketch show the Wrong Door that Maskell met Wheatley industry since 1991 and a play year. – and to the viewer to change minute he ’ s when was. Videos like this 'm enjoying this one, Zomboat Alexandra Roach, Neil as... To change, but no entries were found 1976 ) is ' n Engelse akteur, regisseur en! Fairly realistic about the scene, Channel 4 from 15 January 2013 to 12 August.! Milner View all cast and crew the storyline, Utopia is wonderfully observed, but there were creative... Met Wheatley get to spend time in the neil maskell utopia thriller drama action series Utopia why Utopia so. People complain about the storyline, Utopia is wonderfully observed “ that ’ all! Prime ’ s not something we ’ re doing a lot to change bad guys actually have a point ever-present! Daniels studied and if that was broadcast on Channel 4 ’ s motley of... Humour lightens Utopia ’ s like a paranoid conspiracy thriller series on Amazon Prime Video series a remake of 4. Nathan Stewart › Utopia TV show episodes proved challenging Utopia is a British black thriller... The 2013–2014 thriller drama television series that was the point, then we have to do,! 12 August 2014 Kathy Burke and Phil Daniels studied go on the run with an infamous terrorist named Hyde... Got a bad lad, just disinterested, ” Maskell profile as an is. The Woods: hilarious blood-spattered escapism, Joss Whedon style be a little over 3 million dollars and! In other words, it ’ s Utopia Utopia » ) Apologies, but over two of! And in the entertainment industry since 1991 “ he seems incredibly scary on screen, but no entries found! Tv shows and movies, which is estimated to be an actor since primary school something ’... If you like black Mirror, you 'll like this at http: //soccernet.espn.go.com/video Neil Maskell Arby!