Other than the Christmas special, Doctor Who has been off for a while. So has Bedlam, and now Primeval is over, too. So what’s next for BBC America’s Supernatural Saturdays? It’s The Fades and it has potential. Here for your advance perusal are the press release, trailer, and posters; the series premieres January 14.
The Fades, the coming of age fantasy drama from writer Jack Thorne (This is England ’86, Skins, Shameless), earned critical acclaim in the UK and is now set to premiere in the US on January 14 as part of BBC AMERICA’s Supernatural Saturday. Seventeen-year-old geek Paul (Iain De Caestecker, Young Herriot) is haunted by apocalyptic dreams that his therapist can’t explain. Neither can best friend and fellow social outcast, Mac (Daniel Kaluuya, Johnny English Reborn), or unsympathetic and much cooler twin sister, Anna (Lily Loveless, Skins). But trying to fit in becomes the least of Paul and Mac’s worries, as Paul’s horrific dreams become a reality and they are embroiled in a battle between the living and the dead. The Fades premieres Saturday, January 14, 9:00pm ET/PT on Supernatural Saturday.
Natalie Dormer (The Tudors,Captain America: The First Avenger), Johnny Harris (Snow White and the Huntsman), Joe Dempsie (Game of Thrones, Skins), and Tom Ellis (Merlin) also star in this smart new series that embraces both comedy and horror.
Paul and Mac love comic books, video games, riding bicycles and talking about – but not particularly with – girls. Their stats are on par with your average social outcasts. But for a long time, Paul’s mind has been filled with dark nightmares of an abandoned world where the sky rains ash. Worse still, Paul has started to see things – horrible creatures that aren’t human. Then late one night, his dreams start to become real. As fate would have it, Paul meets Neil (Johnny Harris) and his nightmares – though still terrifying – start to make more sense. Neil explains that the things he can see are Fades. Paul is special – he’s one of a small group of people who can see them.
Fades are the ghosts or spirits of human beings. Everyone who dies becomes a Fade. They cannot be seen, heard, smelt or touched by the living, and they are completely unable to interact with our world. The Fades should ascend, but for some reason, that isn’t happening. They’re trapped in a world they can’t experience. And now an embittered and vengeful Fade has found a way to break the barrier between the dead and the living.
Soon the fate of humanity rests in the hands of two best friends who already have enough trouble surviving high school, let alone saving the world.
Creator Jack Thorne on the series: “What makes The Fades different is that it is a fantasy show rather than a science fiction show. It’s about fairly ordinary people, none of these people act or behave like they’re superheroes. The Fades is about the world itself being an extraordinary thing and how you battle it. This old school fantasy element combined with some pretty original characters – I hope is what will make people want to watch.”
“I think The Fades is a love story between Mac and Paul. As a kid I didn’t have a best friend that I could share everything with and could be a team with, and this show is about a kid that’s got one – it’s a love story about two best friends.”
Following The Fades premiere on BBC AMERICA, the next special of The Nerdist premieres at 10:00pm ET/PT and features host Chris Hardwick’s interview with star Lily Loveless in London.
Here’s the trailer:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAggYtyHtl4&hd=1[/youtube]
And here are the posters:
[Click on the Gallery to Blow Sh!t Up]
I saw the first hour of this series some months ago, and was told ahead of time that it was exceedingly scary. It wasn’t. It was, however, pretty cool and slightly creepy, and the two friends have great chemistry and some nicely snarky lines. Go into this with an open mind and you’ll likely find this a great way to spend your Saturday nights, at least at 9pm.
The Fades premieres Saturday, January 14 at 9/8c on BBC America.
