If you’re a fan of British drama, you’ve probably already discovered COBRA, a thrilling series airing Sunday nights at 10 on UNC-TV. The premise is frightening relevant: a natural disaster throws the UK into disarray and a special government task force is spurred to action. Don’t worry, there are no pandemics at play here. But there are riots, plane crashes, power outages and some very tough choices along the way.
COBRA also features a talented ensemble cast, many familiar from other shows we’ve aired on UNC-TV. Let’s see who’s who, shall we?
Robert Carlyle stars as UK Prime Minister Robert Sutherland. Carlyle has been appearing on screens big and small for 30 years. He’s been in big budget blockbusters and indie darlings and made a splash on television series on both sides of the pond. However, I could only find one show that made its way to public broadcasting – he was David Russell in Benedict Cumberbatch mini-series The Last Enemy.
Victoria Hamilton plays Anna Marshall, Downing Street Chief of Staff. She’s been Ruby Pratt in Lark Rise To Candleford, Miss Granham in To The Ends Of The Earth and Lucy Fry in Goodbye Mr. Chips (the Martin Clunes version).
Richard Dormer is Fraser Walker, Director of the Civil Contingencies Secretariat. He played Corporal John O’Leary on the Masterpiece Theatre presentation of My Boy Jack (the one with Harry Potter’s Daniel Radcliffe).
David Haig portrays Home Secretary Archie Glover-Morgan. He’s one of those character actors that always seems familiar but you can’t entirely say where you’ve seen him. Well, that’s why I’m here: Haig was Sir George Sinclair in The 39 Steps, Rudyard Kipling in the aforementioned My Boy Jack and Harold Nicolson in Portrait Of A Marriage. Going back four decades, he played Pangol in the classic Doctor Who adventure The Leisure Hive (the first of Tom Baker’s final season).
Lucy Cohu plays Rachel, wife of PM Sutherland. While Cohu has been since in minor roles on Atlantis (Circe) and Upstairs Downstairs (Sylvia Fuller), she may be best recognized as Rebecca from a late 90s Masterpiece Theatre adaptation of the Daphne Du Maurier novel.
Edward Bennett is Downing Street Press Secretary Peter Mott. Although not major roles, he’s been seen in Poldark as Prime Minister Pitt and in Victoria as Trevelyan.
Ellie Kendrick, who portrays Civil Contingencies Secretariat Officer Stephanie Lodge, was most recently seen as Leona Manning-Lynd in Press on Masterpiece. Further back, Kendrick was Ivy Morris on Upstairs Downstairs, Anne Frank on The Diary Of Anne Frank and Melanie on Prime Suspect 7: The Final Act.
Marsha Thomason plays Francine Bridge. She was seen as Janice Lafferty in another Prime Suspect series – Errors Of Judgement.
Grace Hogg-Robinson is Tess Marshall. The young actress is currently appearing as Lily on the Masterpiece series Flesh and Blood (an hour earlier on Sunday nights) and was seen as Beth Kennedy on The Coroner.
Lastly, Angus Wright plays General Rodney Pickering. You may have seen him as on the Masterpiece Theatre series Warrior Queen (as Severus) and The Way We Live Now (as Miles Grendall).
The six-part series COBRA continues Sunday night at 10 on UNC-TV.
Got a face you can’t place from one of the plethora of programs UNC-TV airs from the UK? Email me at sparkymac@unctv.org and I’ll try to help out.
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