Tom Hardy's 'Taboo' begins London shoot; cast revealed

Drama series Taboo, starring Tom Hardy, is to begin filming in London this week and new additions to the cast have been revealed.

The eight-part drama series has been created by Steven Knight, who previously worked with Hardy on TV series Peaky Blinders and feature Locke, and isdirected by Kristoffer Nyholm (Danish TV series The Killing, The Enfield Haunting) for BBC One and FX.

Hardy plays James Keziah Delaney who returns to 1814 London after 10 years in Africa to discover that he has been left a mysterious legacy by his father. Driven to wage war on those who have wronged him, Delaney finds himself in a face-off against the East India Company, whilst playing a dangerous game between two warring nations – Britain and America.

Alongside Hardy’s protagonist is Michael Kelly (House of Cards, Everest), who plays US doctor Dumbarton, Jonathan Pryce (Pirates of the Caribbean) as Sir Stuart Strange, the head of the East India Company and Delaney’s nemesis, Oona Chaplin (The Crimson Field, The Hour) as Zilpha Geary, James’ half-sister, and David Hayman (Macbeth) as Brace, Delaney’s trusted man-servant.

Jessie Buckley (Shades of Love) plays ‘Lorna Bow’ who lays claim to James’ father’s will.  Ashley Walters (Bullet Boy) is a dangerous face from James’ years in Africa.  Jefferson Hall (Vikings) plays ‘Thorne Geary,’ Zilpha’s husband; Ed Hogg (White Lightnin’, Anonymous) is ‘Godfrey,’ Delaney’s cross-dressing spy inside the East India Company, Leo Bill (Alice in Wonderland, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) is ‘Wilton,’ Strange’s fashionable, amoral accomplice; Christopher Fairbank (Guardians of the Galaxy, Hercules) as ‘Ibbotson,’ a man to whom James is indebted; Richard Dixon (The King’s Speech, Mr. Turner) is ‘Pettifer,’ Strange’s right hand man; Jason Watkins (The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies, Nativity) is ‘Solomon Coop,’ the Prince Regent’s right hand man and Spy Master; and Nicholas Woodeson (Rome, The Living and the Dead) is lawyer ‘Thoyt,’ the Delaney family’s former lawyer.

Talent behind the camera includes Director of Photography Mark Patten whose work includes upcoming sci-fi thriller Morgan for 20^th Century Fox, Production Designer Sonja Klaus (Mr. Selfridge, Babylon A.D.), Costume Designer Joanna Eatwell (Wolf Hall, Eric & Ernie) and Casting Director Nina Gold (Star Wars: Episode VII: The Force Awakens, The Martian).

Ridley Scott’s Scott Free London and Tom Hardy’s Hardy Son & Baker are producing for BBC One and FX, with Sonar Entertainment distributing worldwide outside the UK. 

Executive producers are Ridley Scott and Kate Crowe for Scott Free, Tom Hardy and Dean Baker for Hardy Son & Baker, and Steven Knight, with Timothy Bricknell (The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, The Fear) producing. 

Taboo is based on an original story by Hardy and his father Chips Hardy, who is also the show’s consulting producer.  The series was commissioned by BBC One controller Charlotte Moore.

Hardy most recently played the lead role in Mad Max: Fury Road, in Brian Helgeland’s Legend playing both Kray Twins, and opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in Alejandro González Iñárritu’s The Revenant.