Cruel Train Explained

Genre:Crime drama
Director:Malcolm McKay
Composer:Nick Bicât
Country:United Kingdom
Num Episodes:1
Producer:Mervyn Gill-Dougherty
Editor:Masahiro Hirakubo
Cinematography:Sean Van Hales
Runtime:100 minutes
Company:BBC Worldwide
Channel:BBC2

Cruel Train (also known as The Beast in Man[1]) is a British television crime drama, written and directed by Malcolm McKay, and first broadcast on BBC2 on 22 December 1996.[2] Based on Émile Zola's 1890 novel La Bête humaine, and set during the Blitz, the film stars David Suchet as Ruben Roberts, a railway official who discovers that his wife, Selina (Saskia Reeves), was sexually abused as a child by the Chairman of the Line, Arthur Grandridge (David Belcher), who is her godfather.[3] Assisted by Selina, Ruben plots to murder Grandridge on the Brighton Express.[4]

Filming for Cruel Train took place at Pebble Mill Studios between 25 November and 22 December 1994, with a budget of £1.25 million. The set was built entirely from scratch in a disused warehouse on the site of the former GEC turbine and transformer works, which was demolished shortly after filming ceased.[5] In 1996, Cruel Train was nominated for the British Academy Television Craft Award for Best Original Television Music. Despite remaining commercially unreleased on VHS or DVD, Cruel Train is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video in the United States.[4]

Cast

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Cruel Train (1996). https://web.archive.org/web/20160604073405/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b7dd0b405. dead. 4 June 2016. BFI. 29 December 2018.
  2. Web site: Cruel Train – BBC Two England – 22 December 1996. BBC Genome. 29 December 2018.
  3. Web site: Cruel Train (BBC-2 1996, David Suchet, Minnie Driver). Memorable TV. 29 December 2018.
  4. Web site: Cruel Train: David Suchet, Saskia Reeves. Amazon . 29 December 2018.
  5. Web site: Cruel Train: Pebble Mill Studios. Pebble Mill. 29 December 2018.