Jimmy Rose walks out of prison after twelve years for armed robbery and into a family that no longer wants him. His wife Jackie (Amanda Redman) has taken up with DI Steve McIntyre (John Lynch), son Joe (Tom Cullen) blanks him, and granddaughter Ellie is spiralling on heroin and working as a courier for gangster Tony Chivers (Mel Raido). Jimmy’s parole terms force him into a depot job, but he throws it away to hunt Ellie, torching her boyfriend’s stash and earning a beating from the Pizza This drug crew. The violence escalates when Jackie’s car is fire-balled and Jimmy, desperate to clear Ellie’s £20k debt, offers his services to Chivers, the very man who once framed him.
Across three 45-minute episodes, writer Alan Whiting keeps the action inside a cramped Sheffield estate where loyalty is measured in bruises. Director Adrian Shergold shoots the final heist, a rival-gang robbery, in grainy dawn light, letting Winstone’s bulky silence do the talking as Jimmy decides whether to inform or stay loyal. The series never leaves the viewer certain which way he will jump, and ends on a deliberate shrug: Jimmy, blood on his shirt, walking away from both police and criminals, family still fractured. ITV aired the miniseries over three consecutive Sunday nights from 30 August 2015, pulling a consolidated audience that slid from 4.9 million to 3.5 million, after which the broadcaster quietly shelved any talk of a return.
Production Details
ITV1 / 1 Season / 3 Episodes / 2015
Created by: Alan Whiting
Showrunner(s): Kieran Roberts
Writer(s): Alan Whiting
Producer(s): Jane Dauncey
Cinematography: Tony Slater Ling
Music: Ben Bartlett
Main Cast
Ray Winstone as Jimmy Rose
Amanda Redman as Jackie Rose
Tom Cullen as Joe Rose
Leticia Dolera as Maria Rose
Marion Bailey as Sue Anderson
John Lynch as DI Steve McIntyre
Paul Jesson as Roy Anderson
Mel Raido as Tony Chivers
Pippa Bennett-Warner as Kerry Irwin
Jack Colgrave Hirst as Aaron Stanley
Cavan Clerkin as Andy
Janine Mellor as DC Sam Fraser
