BBC's science fiction TV series Outcasts: trailer and plot

22 January 2011

John Howell

The BBC is working on a new eight part science fiction television series called Outcasts, about the trials of a group of Earth pioneers setting up a new world on a recently discovered planet. Ben Richards, the man behind the excellent spy drama Spooks (MI5 in the US), as well as The Fixer and Party Animals, is the series creator and head writer.

Outcasts stars Hermione Norris (Spooks), Liam Cunningham (Clash Of The Titans, Centurion), Daniel Mays (Atonement), and Amy Manson (Being Human).

Watch the Outcasts trailer on YouTube below. Apparently Outcasts is due out some time in February in the UK.

Here's a plot summary from the BBC's official Outcasts website:

"A group of courageous pioneers face a unique opportunity: the chance to build a new and better future on another planet. They are led by President Tate and his core team of Stella, Cass and Fleur. They took charge and settled here first alongside Expeditionaries Mitchell and Jack.

They are a diverse group of individuals who left their old lives behind in extraordinary circumstances; promised a second chance at life they created a society, far away from their home, friends, family... and their pasts.

Settled in the town of Forthaven on Carpathia, they are passionate about their jobs, confident of their ideals and optimistic about the future. They work hard to preserve what they've built on this planet they now call home, having embraced all the challenges that come with forging a new beginning.

The planet offers the possibility for both corruption and redemption; while they try to avoid the mistakes made on Earth, inevitably our heroes cannot escape the human pitfalls of love, greed, lust, loss, and a longing for those they've left behind.

As they continue to work and live together they come to realise this is no ordinary planet... is there a bigger purpose at work? Mystery lurks around them and threatens to risk the fragile peace of Forthaven."