Guess who is going to star in this drama show set in Singapore based on World War II? Yes, it’s none other than David Morrissey.
Oscar-winning screenwriter Christopher Hampton has penned down 1978 satirical novel, The Singapore Grip written by J.G Farrell’s. It is now going to air on ITV’s. He takes a wickedly look at the British Empire in colonial-era Singapore.
This drama set in the time of World War II is going to tell you a tale about a British family living in Singapore in the 1940s. They find their trading company under threat during the time of the Japanese invasion.
Christopher Hampton on the show
“I must say it was possibly the most enjoyable job I’ve had for, oh, for years and years and years,” Hampton told.
“It was just sheer pleasure doing it, and digging into the book and trying to work out how to make it real and stay faithful to it.”
Luke Treadaway (who plays Matthew Webb) a crucial role in the series told a popular British magazine in an interview that he hoped that this series would help to educate the audience about the misdeeds of the British Empire.
“We owe it to our kids, and the future of our whole planet really, to not sugar-coat history and just cherry-pick and show moments of valour from our fighting troops,” the actor added.
Mammoth Screen’s Damien Timme, is the executive producer of the series and he has recently even produced many successful dramas that include Victoria, Endeavour, and Poldark.
Before you decide to watch the series, here is the quick review of the show which will give you a subtle hit about how British colonialism is depicted in the series.
So sit back and read everything here that you need to know about The Singapore Grip.
When is The Singapore Grip on TV?
As per the broadcaster’s Autumn 2020 lineup of programming, The Singapore Grip will air on ITV from 13th September 2020.
In March 2019, the series started filming in South East Asia
What is The Singapore Grip about?
The famous novel was written by J.G. Farrell’s The Singapore Grip who died at the age of 44 years. This novel was published in 1978, a year before his death. The ironic novel is based on the lives of a family who controlled the colony’s leading trading company. The story follows the invasion of the Japanese in Singapore and how the occupations were affected due to their interference.
The novel is adopted by famous Oscar-winning playwriter and screenwriter (of Atonement and Dangerous Liaisons fame) Christopher Hampton. He has divided the novel into six beautiful parts in the series that stars Luke Treadaway, David Morrissey, and Charles Dance in leading roles.
Morrissey stars as the “ruthless rubber merchant” Walter Blackett, the head of British Singapore’s powerful and oldest firm along with his partner Mrs. Webb(Dance). Whereas, Treadaway plays the “reluctant hero and innocent abroad” Matthew Webb
Treadaway in an interview explains, “Matthew is sent for to come and visit his dying father,” “And he arrives in Singapore with very different views to Walter, and very different views to a lot of people who were sort of, those people who were running business empires during the time of the Empire.
As per the ITV synopsis ‘With Webb’s health failing, Walter needs to ensure the future of their firm is secure. He decides Webb’s son Matthew is the perfect match for his spoilt daughter Joan (Georgia Blizzard). Matthew’s idealism leaves Walter increasingly suspicious as Matthew himself falls under the spell of Vera Chiang (Elizabeth Tan), a mysterious Chinese refugee.”
“As a great admirer and, eventually, a friend of J.G.Farrell, I was delighted to be invited to adapt The Singapore Grip, a panoramic account of the disastrous loss of Singapore to the Japanese invaders in 1942, the screenwriter Christopher Hampton quoted.
“Close analysis of this great novel has only deepened my enthusiasm for the skill with which Farrell has combined the private story of the machinations, commercial and amorous, of the Blackett family and their struggle – described with Farrell’s trademark subversive wit – to preserve and expand their prosperous rubber business with the unfolding of the cataclysmic events to which they remain totally oblivious until it’s too late.
“Matthew Webb, our bespectacled protagonist, an idealistic innocent abroad, lands in the middle of all this, to find himself fiercely pursued by two beautiful women – an English heiress and a Chinese adventurer – and his story, with its tumultuous backdrop, is told in a style with echoes of Tolstoy and Evelyn Waugh, but still, unmistakably, the unique voice of Jim Farrell.”
Who is in the cast of The Singapore Grip?
Charles Dance stars in The Singapore Grip on ITV ITV
Luke Treadaway, the Olivier Award-winning actor has starred in many popular shows such as The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Ordeal by Innocence, and Traitors is set to play the role of Matthew Webb in The Singapore Grip.
David Morrissey is best remembered for his famous roles in The Missing, Britannia, and The Walking Dead. He is read o play the role of Walter Blackett in the series. Mr. Webb, the character will be played by Charle Dance, who starred as Tywin Lannister in Game of Thrones.
the cast will be joined by Little Voice and Ab Fab star Jane Horrocks (as Sylvia Blackett), In the Flesh actor Luke Newberry, Star Trek actor Colm Meaney, as well as Peep Show’s Bart Edwards, and the actor Christoph Guybert. Georgia Blizzard plays the role of Joan, while Corrie star Elizabeth Tan plays Vera.
