The series may also feel familiar in tone to Knight’s (who wrote the series) other recent TV work, Peaky Blinders, though Taboo’s restricted episode number keeps it moving at a faster clip. The series also has a restless energy to it, and Nyholm often shoots scenes from a low angle that feels, somehow, conspiratorial. French Bill is a lanky man with a thick beard and greasy black hair, often seen wearing worn clothes. French Bill is a taciturn henchman who is not afraid dirtying his hands, nor to perform illegal acts. French Bill is a recurring character in the first season of Taboo.
Taboo nootka sound skin#
The Killing’s Kristoffer Nyholm, who directs the first half of the miniseries ( Jordskott’s Anders Engström will direct the second) keeps the camera close to the plethora of scars, skin conditions, and bad teeth that populate the production. French Bill is a gangster working for Atticus. (Unsurprisingly, casting wizard Nina Gold was at the helm of this production as well). Hardy is also surrounded by a great cast that will be familiar to Anglophile viewers and those who have a good memory for character actors (or can spot a disguised Mark Gatiss), many of whom came from Game of Thrones - most notably Jonathan Pryce.
Speech in the series is minimal and deliberate, and there is a sly humor to it that saves it from being too serious. Hardy is Hardy here, giving a performance that suggests a quiet power with a tinge of madness. But unlike Bastard Executioner, Taboo feels like a polished BBC production (the BBC co-produced it, naturally), one with a clear sense of itself and its purpose, with a pace that may be a little slow to start for some, but where an investment seems wise. Before Taboo, it was the network’s only foray into an immersive period piece ( The Americans, set the 1980s, doesn’t require quite the level of set building and costuming that these others do). It’s him against the world, quite literally, “and if anyone is mad enough to take it on it’s James Delaney.”įX has had such a winning track record with its series in the last few years that it’s easy to forget its follies, the most primary one of late being The Bastard Executioner.
But throughout the first three episodes of the series, James builds up a spy network for his protection and the protection of others he sees as weaknesses that could potentially be used against him. He’s also haunted by a love for his half-sister, Zilpha ( Oona Chaplin), who was cut out of their father’s will and whose husband wants James dead. But don’t mistake Taboo for some kind of dour legal drama there’s grave robbing, arsenic poisoning, spycraft, incest, cannibalism, and ghosts (of James conscience from a murky engagement from the slave trade) that haunt him mightily.
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