Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
ONE OF THE most brazen, compelling and wild series on TV is coming to a close on Monday: Industry.
The BBC One series has grown from a cult late-night hit to a primetime stunner over the past four years, and the latest season has shown that it’s still able to hit incredible heights. Or maybe that should be depths, given what its characters tend to experience…
Wondering what makes Industry so special?
The show began in 2020 and initially focused on young graduates working at Pierpoint & Co, a fictional investment bank in London. Its first episode was directed by one Lena Dunham.
But by the end of season three, Pierpoint had imploded and Industry began to focus mainly on the characters Yasmin Kara-Hanani (Marisa Abela) and Harper Stern (Myha’la).
By Season 4, Yasmin is married to the incredible-named and extremely rich Henry Muck (Game of Thrones’ Kit Harington), while Harper runs a shorts-only fund before going on to start a company named SternTao with former Pierpoint boss Eric Tao (Ken Leung). The pair become intertwined when Henry Muck is named the CEO of payment processor Tender, bringing in Yasmin to work with him – and Harper sets her sights on the company.
Industry’s creators Mickey Down and Konrad Kay met at Oxford University and are former investment bankers. It was Down’s wife who suggested he start writing with Kay after Kay got fired from his job.
They’ve said they were influenced by “core texts” including Bennett Miller “and that kind of school of Moneyball and Foxcatcher, Aaron Sorkin’s West Wing, Entourage”. None of which is a surprise if you’ve seen any of this twisty, brazen show.
The series has a pulsing score which was created by Nathan Micay and sets the relentless, intense tone for the series.
“When we first met him he described [the title track] in particular as: he needed to create a banger, but also needed to create a banger that would make grown men cry in the club and hug each other and tell each other they love them,” Down said.
Job done.
Looking for a relaxing watch? You won’t find it in Industry. The series has become renowned for what it puts its characters through – shocking deaths, drug addictions, wild affairs, drug use, suicide attempts and all sorts.
When it came to the third season, Kay told the New Yorker they wondered: “How many minutes of TV can you sustain where it feels like it’s an anxiety attack, where so much is happening that it almost becomes self-parody?”
Season four amped that to another level altogether. This time, Kay said: “Can we effectively tell a story over eight hours that has the narrative propulsion of a great conspiracy thriller?”
The show started as a cult hit before moving in the US to the coveted Sunday 9pm slot on HBO. Other shows that once occupied that spot? Succession and Game of Thrones.
One of the keys to its success: the well-known faces it hires to play against type. So you get Kit Harington (Jon Snow in Game of Thrones) playing a pretty pathetic but single-mindedly manipulative posho; Mad Men’s Kiernan Shipka playing a seemingly naive but certainly manipulative assistant; and Stranger Things’ Charlie Heaton playing an ill-fated and all over the place (and did we mention manipulative?) journalist.
Perhaps only Industry would have the gumption not just to cast against type, but to push its characters to their absolute limit.
The finale of Industry season 4 airs on Monday at 10.40pm on BBC One.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say