20th March 2018

A celebrated, award-winning ensemble cast will join Academy Award(R) winning lead Anna Paquin in Flack, a UKTV Original television drama series (6 x 60') for premium entertainment channel, W. The series starts production this week in London directed by BAFTA-winning Peter Cattaneo (Rev, The Full Monty).

Flack stars talent from multiple award-winning films and critically acclaimed series, including: Academy Award and Golden Globe nominated Sophie Okonedo (The Hollow Crown, The Slap, Hotel Rwanda, Criminal Justice), Genevieve Angelson (Good Girls Revolt, House of Lies), Lydia Wilson (Requiem, Star Trek Beyond, Black Mirror), Rebecca Benson (Game of Thrones, The White Princess, The Crown), Arinzé Kene (Crazyhead), Marc Warren (Mad Dogs, Snatch, The Good Wife), Rufus Jones (W1A, Episodes, Camping, Hunderby) Max Beesley (Jamestown, Empire, Suits, Strike Back), Rebecca Root (The Danish Girl, Boy Meets Girl).

Flack is set in the fast-paced and cut-throat world of celebrity PR. Against this dynamic backdrop the series offers a fresh and bold take on the brutal reality of the modern world. The characters weave through complex storylines in a high-stakes world where the misdemeanors of celebrity clients can go viral in an instant.

Flack centers on an American PR executive (Paquin) living in London who must figure out how to make the best of the bad situations and the hot water that her wayward clients are constantly getting themselves into, whilst also fighting her own personal flaws.

The cast and characters for Flack are:

Anna Paquin, who is also Executive Producer, plays Robyn; an expert at her craft but a self-saboteur in her personal life. It's her job to fix other people's lives despite the fact she is incapable of fixing her own. Plagued with inner demons, Robyn's high-stakes and fast-paced career offers an essential distraction from her own disasters.

Robyn's boss and head of PR company Mills Paulson is Caroline, played by Sophie Okonedo. Caroline is a formidable and highly capable woman who takes no prisoners and makes no excuses. Dry as a bone with a sharp tongue and a sharper wit, she is an exceptionally observant character who's seen and done it all over many years at the top of her game.

Genevieve Angelson plays Ruth, Robyn's sister, confidant and emotional rock. A mother of two who loves her children but can't help longing for the life she used to enjoy before their arrival, Ruth is intent on trying to keep her inner fire alive - even if that is often only possible vicariously through her wayward sister.

Lydia Wilson stars as Eve, Robyn's foul-mouthed best friend and colleague. Eve comes from a world of money, influence and privilege, but knows it and owns it. At turns hilarious and deeply shocking, Eve represents the dark heart of the series, a morally bankrupt character who will ultimately face betrayal from those closest to her.

Rebecca Benson is cast as Melody, the new girl in the workplace in her first week as an interm. Having only recently arrived in London, Melody finds herself thrown into the bear pit of Mills Paulson PR where she must eventually make a decision as to how much of her personal life she's prepared to sacrifice on the altar of her chosen profession.

Arinzé Kene plays Robyn's charming and tolerant boyfriend, Sam. A playboy in his younger years, Sam's wild side helps make him a great match for Robyn, but he's now doing his best to grow up, calm down and focus on starting a family - an ambition that Robyn feels ambivalent about at best.

Marc Warren plays Tom, a damaged but charming ex-dancer whom Robyn meets through her NA meetings. Whilst Robyn ends up setting Tom up as potential boyfriend material for Eve, there's clearly an attraction between them - Tom has a fragility that's different to Sam - and that Robyn perhaps sees in herself.

Rufus Jones stars as Ruth's comfortably old-fashioned husband, Mark. A doting family man who feels it's his duty to provide for his family, Mark is nevertheless de-stablilised by events of his own making early on in the series and must come to terms with the type of man he is, or aspires to be.

Additional casting includes; Alan Davies (Jonathan Creek, Whites) Andrew Leung (Doctor Who), Lloyd Everitt (Casualty) Indra Ove (Resident Evil), Tsion Habte (Liar), Rebecca Scroggs (EastEnders), Chu Omambala (Doctor Who), Holli Dempsey (Black Mirror), and Amy Huberman (Striking Out).

Flack is executive produced by Jimmy Mulville (Derry Girls, Doctor Thorne, Episodes) and Helen Williams of Hat Trick Productions, with Anna Paquin, Cerise Hallam Larkin, Stephen Moyer and Mark Larkin of CASM Films, alongside Justin Rosenblatt from Pop and Pete Thornton from UKTV.

The six episode series was created by Oliver Lansley (Whites, Alice's Adventures Underground), who will also executive produce. Flack is directed by the Oscar(R)-nominated and BAFTA-winning Peter Cattaneo (The Full Monty, Rev) and produced by Mark Talbot.

Flack is a co-production with Pop and will air on W in the UK in 2019.

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For more information please contact:

UKTV
Gem Pinkney, Publicity Manager, UKTV

Pop
Leslie Furuta / leslie.furuta@poptv.com / +1 323-856-4062
Hillary Povar / hillary.povar@poptv.com / +1 323-856-4140

About W
Sky 109/245, Virgin 124/191, BT & TalkTalk 407 / On demand on Sky, Virgin, BT and TalkTalk.

W is UKTV's premium entertainment channel, offering audiences a dazzling mix of UKTV original series; Dr Christian Will See You Now, John Bishop: In Conversation With..., The Davina Hour, The Secrets In My Family and Inside the Ambulance alongside handpicked gems from the BBC and Channel 4 including series from Louis Theroux, David Beckham, Stacey Dooley as well as the same day repeat of EastEnders.

@wchannel | @wtvchannel

About UKTV
UKTV is a commercial broadcaster reaching over 40m viewers every month. 

The award-winning independent has eleven imaginative brands - UKTV Play, Dave, W, Gold, Alibi, Yesterday, Drama, Really, Home, Eden and Good Food. These include the two most popular non-PSB channels in the UK and account for nearly 10% of the British commercial TV market. 

The network delivers inspired channels to audiences through Freeview, Sky, Virgin Media, BT, TalkTalk, YouView, Freesat, Amazon Fire and UKTV Play, and distributes its highly valued original programmes to 200 territories. Now celebrating over 20 years at the forefront of digital television, UKTV - an independent commercial joint venture between BBC Worldwide and Discovery, Inc. - is proud to be the first British television broadcaster in The Sunday Times top 100 companies list.
corporate.uktv.co.uk |press.uktv.co.uk | @uktvpress

About Hat Trick Productions Hat Trick is one of the UK's most successful independent production companies, whose output is immediately identified with popular and award-winning programming. Founded by Jimmy Mulville, Denise O'Donoghue and Rory McGrath in a cramped office in Soho in 1986 the aim was then, and is now, to make television programmes which we ourselves would like to watch. For more than 30 years Hat Trick has been working with some of the leading writers, producers, directors, performers and crew both in the UK and abroad. And some of the brightest names in British television began their careers and continue to build them under the Hat Trick banner.

About Pop
Fans don't sit at the outskirts of pop culture making snarky comments. They live right smack in the middle of it, sharing, creating and connecting their passions with others. Pop gives fans a dedicated channel that loves being a fan as much as they do. A channel filled with optimism, humor, excitement and a passion for the great times in life - those you remember and those still to come.

Pop is a joint venture of CBS Corporation (NYSE: CBS.A and CBS) and Lionsgate (NYSE: LGF.A, LGF.B). The partnership combines CBS' programming, production and marketing assets with Lionsgate's resources in motion pictures, television and digitally delivered content. Pop's ownership structure is comprised of the company with the #1 broadcast network and many of the top first-run syndication series and the studio responsible for the worldwide box office phenomenon "La La Land," winner of six Academy Awards, the breakout smash "Wonder," the blockbuster "Hunger Games," "Twilight Saga," "John Wick" and "Now You See Me" franchises and acclaimed television series including "Orange is the New Black," "Nashville," "Casual," "Dear White People" and "Greenleaf."