Project Detail

The English

Synopsis

Complex drama and knotty themes have long been hallmarks of Blick’s work. Through the lens of the Western, he now turns his attention to the founding of contemporary USA. Blunt plays wealthy English woman Cornelia Locke, who arrives in the United States in 1890 with a bag of cash, hell-bent on killing the man responsible for the death of her child. She’s thrown together in unlikely circumstances with Pawnee scout Eli Whipp (a career making turn by Chaske Spencer), recently discharged from the army and trying to make his way home. Demonstrating a deep literacy with the genre, The English is stylised and angular filmmaking that both critiques and pays homage to the traditional Western while imbuing it with a contemporary sensibility. It’s also a work that speaks acutely to post-Brexit Britain – the imperial confidence of ‘the English’ playing cricket on the prairie is in striking contrast with a 21st-century nation coming to terms with its waning global power.
(London Film Festival)

Details

Year
2022
Type of project
Features
Running time
Ep 1 and 2; 97 min
Format
Series
Director
Hugo Blick
Producer
Colin Wratten
Executive Producer
Greg Brenman, Hugo Blick, Emily Blunt
Principal cast
Emily Blunt, Chaske Spencer, Stephen Rea, Rafe Spall, Tom Hughes

Genre

Categories

Production Status

Production Company

BBC

A UK/Spain co-production

Page updates

This page was last updated on 12th May 2025. Please let us know if we need to make any amendments or request edit access by clicking below.

See also

You may also be interested in other relevant projects in the database.

A muddied dishevelled man looks into the camera Kibera Hustle

Director: Janet Wells

Year: 2026

When his estranged half-brother is kidnapped in Kibera, a hapless British outsider plunges into Nairobi’s largest slum. Out of his depth and desperate, Steve teams up with Mshai, a streetwise hustler with plans of her own. As double-crosses mount and loyalties shift, Steve must decide whether he’s come to save his brother — or himself.

Maleek sits against a soft furnishing, wearing a cream knit top. He has a shaved head and beard, and his expression is contemplative and emotional. Natural light falls across his face. Between Realms

Director: Romaine Reid

Year: 2026

Guided through shifting realms shaped by memory, spirit and emotion, Maleek is forced to confront the unresolved wounds that continue to echo across generations. As reality blurs and time slips away, what begins as a search for connection becomes a journey of healing and transformation. Official Selection, S.O.U.L Festival 2026

A blonde woman in a white dress holds a baby at the top of a staircase Unspeakable

Director: Corinna Faith

Year:

Lil, a young mother, struggles to connect with her newborn baby. Ashamed and exhausted, she tells no one not even her domineering mother, Judith. But something terrifying already senses the void between them. Drawn to mothers who are uncertain or overwhelmed, an ancient creature begins to circle, waiting for an opportunity to rid her of her burden. When the family relocates to Judith’s childhood home, isolated deep in the countryside, buried tensions erupt and old secrets surface. The creature closes in, and a primal battle begins between a now-desperate mother and a relentless, all-consuming force.