The State Within

After an explosion in Washington, DC, British Ambassador Sir Mark Brydon uncovers a terrifying conspiracy. Whom can you trust when governments are corrupt, and military might belongs only to a private, powerful few? And at what point do you sacrifice your nation for the truth? Riveting action and high-stakes suspense propel you at breakneck speed through this tightly plotted thriller. Jason Isaacs (Harry Potter films, Black Hawk Down) and Sharon Gless (Queer as Folk, Cagney & Lacey) star in this sexy, fast and intelligent six-part BBC mini-series, filmed on location in London and Washington, DC.

On a rollercoaster ride, Sir Mark Brydon (Isaacs), British Ambassador to Washington, finds himself in the centre of a terrifying conspiracy that could bring down Western Government. As Mark the ambassador fights to prevent a looming war, Mark the man is faced with a terrible dilemma. At what point do you sacrifice the truth for the sake of your nation? At what point do you sacrifice your nation for the truth?

As a dark secret from his past comes back to haunt Mark, people around him begin to die. Mark no longer knows who he can trust.

A British man on death row fights for his life. A terrible explosion tears apart the alliance between Britain and America. A group of British mercenaries lays a trail of destruction. All these threads connect in a cat's cradle of deceit and murder. At its heart ? the American Secretary of Defense, Lynne Warner (Sharon Gless).

Manipulated by powers beyond his control, Mark finds himself a key player in a deadly plot. The only way to stop it is to find the puppet master. But by revealing the awful truth he could destroy both the UK and US Governments and risk the lives of those he loves.

In the murky world of international conspiracy and espionage, your enemies are not always who you think they are. Neither are your friends. Do not believe all you are told.

The State Within is a gripping conspiracy thriller set in the largest arena in the world. With a contemporary political backdrop it asks us all ? who can you trust? In The State Within, nothing is what it first appears.

Episode 1 - A UK Airlines flight explodes in mid air during take off from Dulles International. Sir Mark Brydon, the British Ambassador to Washington, is out of the ambassadorial Rolls Royce and delivering first aid by the side of the Beltway. Later that day, as a shocked Washington struggles to come to terms with the disaster, a diplomatic inferno envelops the Embassy. It was a terrorist explosion. And the bomber was a British Muslim.

Brydon's initiative to restore relations with the Administration is derailed by an early reaction from the Governor Karpinski of Virginia. Effective immediately, British Asians can be detained without charge. Then, as the crisis takes a grip, a Washington-based foreign policy thinktank invites James Sinclair, a disgraced former British Ambassador, to speak about human rights abuses and government-sponsored torture in his former patch, the Central Asian republic of Tyrgyztan. This major embarrassment to the US administration (supporters of the current President of Tyrgyztan), is a personal embarrassment for Ambassador Brydon who has deep-rooted personal connections with this diplomatic untouchable.

Meanwhile, in Florida, British paratrooper Luke Gardner is awaiting execution on Death Row. And in Virginia, his former brothers-in-arms are preparing a private military action under the aegis of Secure Operations, a British military contractor working for an American paymaster.

Episode 2 - Since the Governor of Virginia began apprehending British civilians, the Embassy has been besieged by British nationals seeking sanctuary. Brydon is happy to offer it but, as his level-headed deputy, Phil Lonsdale, keeps reminding him, gesture politics is easy; there's a bigger picture to keep hold of. Priority must be to get the policy reversed. But who could the Ambassador influence on the Security Committee?

Secretary of Defense Lynne Warner has the same idea. Her priority is a show of strength and she's first to reach the Chair of the Committee, Madeleine Cohen.

At the Embassy, Nicholas is sidetracked into an apparently separate story. There's evidence to suggest that the unidentifiable body washed up in a creek in Virginia might be that of a British soldier.

In Florida, Luke's appeal is denied and Governor Karpinski signs his Death Warrant. Jane sees one last chance. She can plead his case at the Pardons Board. When the shaky evidence that convicted him is exposed, they must surely admit clemency.

After working round the clock for three days, Mark is having an evening off and is looking forward to dinner with Caroline Hanley. But when he arrives at her house, an ambush awaits and he is confronted with an impossible situation. Awaiting his arrival, along with Caroline, are Gordon Adair, CEO of Armitage Corp, and James Sinclair, whom Mark is forbidden contact with...

Episode 3 - As day breaks, the Embassy is fire-fighting the latest conflagration to envelop Anglo-American relations, as the conspiracy thriller continues. A party of British mercenaries has been apprehended taking off from a private airfield in Virginia, apparently en route to deliver 10 cylinders of a component of nerve gas to Tyrgyztan in Central Asia. On the principle that attack is the best form of defence, British businessman Charles Macintyre is threatening to file an official complaint about the FBI's handling of his “entirely legitimate business operation”.

Brydon visits the airfield to see the impounded planes still on the tarmac, he spins a proposition to National Security Adviser Carl Garcia: support for the rogue regime in Tyrgyztan is becoming untenable and the UK/US should consider an approach to the democratic opposition.

Mark is in a position to make it happen because of his influence with Eshan Borisvitch, leader of the Tyrgyztan opposition, who is currently in hiding. James Sinclair, ex-British Ambassador to Tyrgyztan, agrees to broker Eshan's visit to Washington, but goes AWOL. Mark finds his old friend in a local bar but, as he manhandles him into the street, a camera flashes from the shadows... Losing patience, Mark walks away and James reels back into the bar to take comfort with a hooker.

The evening ends with sickening violence when someone steps out of a Washington alley with murder on their mind; and in Florida, as former British Paratrooper Luke Gardner waits on Death Row to hear his fate, the next piece of the deadly plan falls into place.

Episode 4 - Returning to Washington after the death of Luke Gardner, Ambassador Mark Brydon embarks on a delicate diplomatic mission. He has invited Eshan Borisvitch (Paulino Nunes) to Washington in secrecy. Despite the diplomatic and personal risks this involves, Mark is pushing for the UK and US to work with Eshan in post-regime change Tyrgyztan. But in meeting Eshan, Mark is forced to confront the ghosts that haunt him from the past.

As Mark and Eshan have dinner in the Residence, Jane Lavery is on her own personal mission in Florida. She has received a letter from Luke Gardner directing her to an address in Tampa. There, she finds some politically explosive correspondence; material which could endanger her life.

Jane returns to Washington and, in a secure room at the Ambassador's Residence, she reveals all to Nicholas Brocklehurst, including evidence linking Secretary of Defense Lynne Warner to some murderous events. Nicholas threatens Jane - this information is dynamite and she must keep quiet. If this comes out, the credibility of the Western Government is at stake. So why is the Secretary of Defense now in talks with Eshan? Where will the conspiracy end? Who else will be sacrificed along the way?

Episode 5 - Mark is reeling from the assassination of Eshan Borisvitch. Downing Street is recalling him to London. His career looks over. Until he is thrown a lifeline from a very unexpected quarter.

Defense Secretary Warner is on the warpath. She is determined to make a case at the United Nations for regime change in Tyrgyzstan. If they can get a resolution, there will be US planes in Central Asia by nightfall. Mark is determined to stop her. But Caroline makes a discovery that threatens to make his efforts impossible.

Mark meets covertly with James Sinclair. James is shattered and scared. Eshan's death has been apocalyptic. Mark finally learns from James the true nature of his enemy. The people behind this will stop at nothing. James' only option is to disappear for a while, leaving his son Azzam in Mark's care.

Mark and Jane rendezvous secretly in a Washington hotel. But as they make love, they are unaware of the danger lurking outside. The killer who has dispatched so many others over the past few days now waits for them.

Episode 6 - The nets are closing in and the body count continues to rise. Christopher Styles receives news that Jane Lavery has survived the car crash, and now lies unconscious in an intensive care unit in Tampa.

Elsewhere, Secretary of Defense Lynne Warner and National Security Adviser Carl Garcia go head to head across the table in the White House. Warner is pushing for an immediate invasion of Tyrgyzstan to depose Usman. He insists that the evidence against Usman lacks proof and loses patience, accusing Warner of ulterior motives.

In an Emergency Chancery, Mark receives shocking news that Jane is in hospital. As he desperately tries to arrange security to protect her, an assassin is already entering the hospital.

FBI Special Agent George Blake has doggedly pieced together the shards of evidence, which leads her straight to the Pentagon and Christopher Style's office.

Sir Mark Brydon	---	Jason Isaacs
Matthew Weiss	---	Aaron Abrams
James McIntire	---	Nigel Bennett
Jane Lavery	---	Eva Birthistle
Sally Davis	---	Emma Campbell
Nicholas Brocklehurst	---	Ben Daniels
Secretary of Defense Lynne Warner	---	Sharon Gless
Christopher Styles	---	Noam Jenkins
Agent George Blake	---	Marnie McPhail
Caroline Hanley	---	Genevieve O’Reilly
Nasreen Qureshi	---	Rahnuma Panthaky
Phil Lonsdale	---	Neil Pearson
Gordon Adair	---	Ted Whittall
James Sinclair	---	Alex Jennings
Eshan Borisvitch	---	Paulino Nunes
Terry Bennett	---	Todd Sandomirsky
Mrs. Gardner	---	Anita Carey
Jennifer	---	Briony Glassco
Luke Gardner	---	Lennie James

Written by Lizzie Mickery, Daniel Percival
Directed by Michael Offer, Daniel Percival
Produced by Patrick Cassavetti, Grainne Marmion
Executive Produced by Jessica Pope
Original Music by Jennie Muskett
Cinematography by David Perrault
Film Editing by David Head, Nick McPhee
Costume Design by Michael Harris

"...a rip-roaring thriller of a three-night, 7x1/2-hour miniseries that pulls off the rare trick of being both massively intelligent and unbearably intense ... You don't normally think of a political tale as the kind that reliably deposits your heart into your throat throughout, but this one delivers precisely that. And it has the added bonus of featuring Sharon Gless in a role she was born to play: the U.S. Secretary of Defense. She steals scenes like a common shoplifter in her finest work since Cagney & Lacey." -Hollywood Reporter

"It's only one-quarter the length of a season of 24, but the new BBC America miniseries The State Within otherwise arrives as a bloody brilliant British equivalent ... [it] begins a lot more deliberately than the average Jack Bauer thrill ride - but by the end, it's just as breathless, just as unpredictable, and with the same whole-world-at-risk dramatic stakes ... The State Within is challengingly cerebral - but at times, it's also almost painfully visceral. Don't miss it."- New York Daily News

"...it's a cleverly crafted, ingenious thriller with only scant moments of implausibility. Most of it has the unmistakable imprint of a smart premise beautifully executed ... There's a taut complexity that writers Lizzie Mickery and Daniel Percival never let slack in the entire miniseries ... The State Within manages to be pulse pounding as well as intelligent and complex, and takes very few missteps along the way. Even at six hours ... it's not nearly enough."- San Francisco Chronicle

"The State Within is what we'd get if the producers of 24 wanted to make us think instead of accept ever-widening leaps of logic ... All the traits of a great thriller as we understand the term are present and accounted for ... The State Within comes alive with tremendous performances all around, led by Cagney & Lacey star Sharon Gless as hawkish Secretary of Defense Lynne Warner. Going toe-to-toe with an impeccable British cast brings out the finest in Gless ... American television spat out some truly convoluted pieces of work this season, and none of them were as worthwhile to watch or came together as well as The State Within does within the space of a few short hours." -Seattle Post-Intelligencer

"The State Within knocked us on our ass so hard we completely forgot that 24 even existed ... Unlike 24 or Bond or any other espionage/terrorism/one-man-against-the-system hokum, State plays as completely uncontrived ... it's bold and awesome..." -Time Out Chicago

"Quality alert. The edgily intense six-hour miniseries offers a 24-style twist on tense, post-9/11 international diplomacy. And, yes, Dr. Cliff Hanger is working overtime."- Detroit Free Press