Jericho (2016 TV series)

Jericho is a British period drama television series created and written by Steve Thompson; it was directed by Paul Whittington. The eight-part series premiered on ITV between 7 January and 25 February 2016. The series re-imagines the building of the Ribblehead Viaduct as a Western-inspired story. It is set in the fictional town of Jericho, a shanty town in the Yorkshire Dales of England, which springs up around the construction of a railway viaduct in the 1870s.
In April 2016, ITV confirmed that a second series of the show was not going to be commissioned. The series was available for streaming video in the USA on Acorn TV, beginning 11 July 2016.

WWW itvstudios.com/programmes...

Premise

The series focuses upon the shanty town of Jericho, home to a community that will live, thrive and die in the shadow of the viaduct they have been brought together to build.

Cast

Jessica Raine as Annie Quaintain, a widow with teenage children
Hans Matheson as Johnny Jackson, a navvy, later discovered to be John Blackwood
Clarke Peters as Ralph Coates, a railway agent
Mark Addy as Earl Bamford, a detective
Dean Andrews as 'Happy' Jack Laggan, a navvy gang leader
Lorraine Ashbourne as Lace Polly, a prostitute
Amy James-Kelly as Martha Quaintain, Annie's daughter
Samuel Bottomley as George Quaintain, Annie's son
Daniel Rigby as Charles Blackwood
Jeany Spark as Isabella Lambton
Phil Cornwell as Joe Capstick
Elliot Barnes-Worrell as Easter

Production

Scenes were shot around Huddersfield, specifically Golcar, at the Colne Valley Museum, and on the moors above Meltham and Marsden. The main setting for the shanty town was Rockingstone Quarry. Wharncliffe Chase above Oughtibridge, north Sheffield, was another shanty town set and nearby locations were used.

Reception

The series received mixed reviews from critics. The Guardian's Lucy Mangan, reviewing the first episode, remarked that the presentation was a bit too clean for the setting but praised the cast and ending. Jasper Rees of The Telegraph commended the ambition of the creators, but found the first episode's drama to be 'busy' and the genre confused. Andrew Billen of The Times gave it three stars being unimpressed by the show's characters. Thea Lenarduzzi of The Independent, on the other hand, found the first episode to be gripping and full of excitement.