The BBC has been on a bit of a run of mini-series dramas of late. This City is Ours was incredibly well-received, portraying a crime family in Liverpool. Although, that was renewed for a second season, so won’t be a mini-series for long. The two-season run of The Responder also did well with critics. While not as well-received and often veering from the true story, historical drama King & Conqueror certainly found an audience earlier this year.
Next on the schedule looks to be another crime drama set in Liverpool, The Cage. Described as being a “high-stakes, high-energy crime story,” it’s without a release date for now, but we do know about some of the plot elements and cast. From the creator of The Responder in his second outing, here’s what we know about the potential hit mini-series that’s coming soon.
Stealing from the Casino-Running Gangsters
Source: Unsplash
Over five episodes, The Cage will follow Sheridan Smith’s character Leanne and Michael Socha’s Matty as they cross paths at an inner-city casino. Both work at the casino and discover that the other is stealing from the venue. Going off of the first-look pictures put out by the BBC, Leanne works the tables or the cage, being dressed in the classic waistcoat attire, while Matty potentially operates a security role.
Said to be “funny, dark, but most of all, full of love, life, and entertainment,” while also being character-driven, audiences are invited to see exactly how these two casino workers will try to get away with stealing from the house. The stakes are only raised from there. Once they discover that the other is robbing from the same safe, they then both have the gangster owner to consider, as well as the police.
This will be Tony Schumacher’s second fully-fledged outing following The Responder, which was also picked up by the BBC. If The Cage reaches anywhere near the audience reception and acclaim that The Responder did, it’ll prove to be yet another hit for the creator and channel in the crime drama space. Of course, this time, we’re following characters on the other side of the flashing blue lights.
Joining the Great Casino Heists
Source: Pixabay
The premise of the underdogs stealing from a casino is a tried-and-trusted premise that has created some intense drama, thrilling scenes of subterfuge, and even some interesting parallels between the story’s characters and the institution. We’ve seen many films take on the house, as it were, in blackjack, like in 21, The Hangover, or Rain Man, but some of the best revolve around a heist.
The Good Thief, Now You See Me: the Second Act, Ocean’s Eleven, Heist, and the subversive The Cooler create a high bar for stories like The Cage to try to meet. In fact, the premise is so popular that it’s made its way into the casino games themselves. In the online space of jackpot casino games, there’s an ocean of different themes and features in play. The most pertinent one here, however, is found in Heist Guys.
Here, players join three masked robbers in a sleek convertible to bypass alarms, dodge guards, and get out before the lockdown. It comes with jumping wilds, multiplier wilds, and symbol upgrades to help along the way. It may have been inspired by those classic casino heist movies, but then again, there was also the wildly popular GTA Online expansion in which millions of players poured in for the Diamond Casino Heist.
The setup of The Cage is well-trodden for good reason: it naturally invites a glitzy backdrop and leans into the high-stakes nature of the venue, but in a character-testing way. Over five episodes of the new BBC show, which doesn’t yet have a release date, we’ll see if Leanne and Matty have what it takes to walk away with the big score.
