Spoiler alert: this blog reveals plot points from both series of Utopia.



The news that Utopia isn’t going to be returning for a third series brings a close to the brightest, most out-there conspiracy thriller we’ve seen on British television for a long time. Channel 4’s statement acknowledges the show’s distinctive tone and vision, and hints that it’s down to a budget issue – there’s only so much drama they can make at any one time.

Utopia is truly channel-defining: strikingly original, powered by Dennis Kelly’s extraordinary voice and brought to life in all its technicolor glory through Marc Munden’s undeniable creative flair and vision, the team at Kudos delivered a series which has achieved fervent cult status over two brilliantly warped and nail-biting series. It also has the honour of ensuring audiences will never look at a spoon in the same way again. It’s always painful to say goodbye to shows we love, but it’s a necessary part of being able to commission new drama, a raft of which are launching on the channel throughout 2015.”

As Alistair Petrie (aka Dugdale’s ruthless government boss Geoff) told me on Twitter, the cancellation is a “huge shame but it will have a legacy in how bold drama can be”.



It’s a good point. For fans of what you might loosely term cult viewing, it’s been a while since we had a drama with such verve and style. In full flow, Utopia felt like it was doing its own thing, combining a thriller plot with something to say. How are we going to deal with overpopulation? Kelly’s warped sense of humour was matched by great production values, beautiful widescreen cinematography, and a soundtrack that didn’t default to generic orchestral washes or feel like it had been drafted in from a Now That’s What I Call Landfill Indie compilation.

We could salute the cast – Fiona O’Shaughnessey’s wide-eyed killer Jessica Hyde; Alexandra Roach’s Becky (the best swearing on TV since Peter Capaldi swapped Downing Street for the Tardis?); Adeel Akhtar’s conflicted Wilson Wilson; Neil Maskell’s terrifying/oddly moving blank-faced assassin, Arby; Geraldine James having the time of her life as the obsessed Mr Rabbit driving the Network’s plan from inside the belly of the Network beast.

It would be great to think that someone else will take these lessons and find another way of bringing us stories that fall outside the crime or period dramas that make up the bulk of British drama. Of course, there are some enjoyable examples being made of both – but it is thrilling to see a show like Utopia, that is so clearly something else.

Could it ever live up to the promise of the first series? I found the first episode of series two an exhilarating exercise in throwing an audience into the deep end, packed with 1970s retro touches (right down to the krautrock-ey soundtrack and the old-school aspect ratio) that in some ways it was hard for the rest of the series to live up to it; as good as the regular cast are, I kept wondering what else Rose Leslie’s version of Milner had got up to – what did she look like in the 80s? What was she doing in the 90s? Where the first series struck a decent balance between mystery and revelation, perhaps the impending V-Day announcement and the rogue Network agents didn’t quite have the same sense of urgency once there were fewer cats to let out of Lee and Arby’s colourful bags. Still, we did get to see more of Arby’s partner Lee and his sharp suits.

But there is some hope for fans of the Network: David Fincher’s remake for HBO is still very much on track. If it’s as good as his reworking of House of Cards for Netflix (and keeps the spoons), it should be worth watching – Utopia is dead, long live Utopia, perhaps. There’s no casting news yet (how about Krysten Ritter as Jessica Hyde? Glenn Close as Milner? Michael Shannon as Arby?), but it has been announced that Gillian Flynn – author of Gone Girl – is set to write the scripts, which should be an interesting take on the material.

So what did you think when you heard the news of the cancellation? Are you looking forward to Fincher’s remake – and who would be in your dream cast? Would you like one more episode of the original to wrap things up? (They can’t all be left rotting in a Network cell forever, can they?) Surely a Utopia Christmas special would be a unique way to say goodbye properly?