Lance Corporal Shaun Emery (Callum Turner) made a full circle in the first season of The Capture. He was freed from jail in episode one after being found not guilty of a crime he had in fact conducted, then in episode 6, he was found guilty and sentenced to prison. In between, viewers were introduced to a world that was so unbelievable it was hard to believe it was real in the BBC surveillance thriller. The intelligence agencies were employing extremely powerful deep fake technology, as DCI Rachel Carey (Strike’s Holliday Grainger) discovered, to create court-admissible “evidence” that would guarantee the criminal conviction of anyone they chose.
When the CIA whistleblower who had threatened to reveal the practise of CCTV footage “correction” turned out to be a double (triple?) agent planted by the agency so that some details of the practise would make it to the appropriate online conspiracy forums, the situation became even more morally dubious. Where there is uncertainty and confusion, there is deniability, as CIA director Jessica Mallory (Famke Janssen) explained to subordinate Frank Napier (Ron Perlman) that it suited individuals in high places (or one person in one very high, oval-shaped spot) for the reliability of video footage to be questioned.
The Capture, written and directed by Ben Chanan, is returning for Series 2 and pushing the boundaries of deepfake surveillance. Carey, the newest MI5 agent, begins a new investigation while Shaun Emery is serving time and absent from the scene. The full summary is provided below:
“DCI Rachel Carey is living a lonely, paranoid existence, struggling with thwarted ambitions while seconded to Counter Terrorism Command’s ‘mapping’ department. She’s officially joined the highly classified ‘Correction’ team, but has yet to be truly ‘let in’. When her former colleagues DS Flynn and DI Latif bring the case of a man murdered by invisible assailants to her attention, the stakes quickly become deadly. Carey’s investigation brings her into the orbit of hotshot politician Isaac Turner MP as the case’s links to national and international security start to emerge. Something is very wrong, but can she work out what before Britain’s security is irrevocably compromised? And which of her colleagues can she trust?”
And here is who will be appearing with her in six brand-new, exciting episodes:
- Paapa Essiedu as Isaac Turner MP
- Andy Nyman as Home Secretary Rowan Gill
- Indira Varma as Khadija Khan
- Tessa Wong as DC Chloe Tan
- Rob Yang as Yang Wanglei
- Charlie Murphy as Simone Turner
- Harry Michell as Rhys Edwards
- Natalie Dew as Aliza Clarke
- Joshua Jo as Edison Yao,
- Chris Corrigan as Alan McKenzie,
- Matt Tait as Will Daniels,
- Lauren Mackie as Claire Price,
- Joseph Arkley as Gregory Knox.
Holliday Grainger is returning in the primary character of DCI Rachel Carey, now employed by MI5. She collaborates with Ben Miles as Commander Danny Hart, Rachel’s former boss and ex-lover, Lia Williams as MI5 spook/DSU Gemma Garland, and Nigel Lindsay as DSU Tom Kendricks. DS Patrick Flynn, represented by Cavan Clerkin, and the recently promoted DI Nadia Latif, portrayed by Ginny Holder, are still on the Homicide team. As CIA agent Frank Napier, Ron Perlman is back, while Lewis Clarke is returned as one of Frank’s tech operatives, Louie.
