‘It’s all about the light…’

ONE OF 2022’S BIG TV MOMENTS, LIMITED SERIES THE ENGLISH WAS SET MAINLY ACROSS KANSAS AND WYOMING BUT WAS FILMED PRINCIPALLY ON A BEEF FARM NOT FAR FROM THE SPANISH CAPITAL, MADRID. HERE HUGO BLICK, AND LEAD ACTORS EMILY BLUNT AND CHASKE SPENCER, SPEAK ABOUT THE EXPERIENCE OF SHOOTING A CLASSIC WESTERN FOR A 21ST-CENTURY AUDIENCE.

BY JULIAN NEWBY

THE ENGLISH is set in the American West of 1890, on the cusp of the frontier’s closure. It tells the story of an English woman and a Native American man. Brought together by chance and each seeking to avenge personal loss, surrounded by danger and driven by tragedy, their quest for revenge and resolution becomes an unusal and compelling love story.

Series creator Hugo Blick drew on teenage experiences to bring together elements of the story that places an unlikely relationship in a classic Western setting.

“I was sent to Montana at 18 as a stabilising infuence. I lived with a family friend, a retired USAF captain, Olympic Gold Medalist and avid outdoorsman. He taught me how to hunt, shoot, spin a horse — a sort of Will Geer to my Jer- emiah Johnson,” Blick says. “We also cut wood commercially. Our contracts came from the government to supply those most in need. Sometimes this involved the Blackfeet Reservation and other Native people’s communities.

“We made a hunting buddy I called Chief. He wasn’t a chief. He called me English. We were easy with this casual racism, but pretty soon I got to see it was a one-way street — with all the heavy traffic heading his way. Back then the reservation seemed hard and isolated, particularly in winter. I had never seen such difculties. Then one day he took of, leaving a couple of bags with us for when he came back. He didn’t. Nothing to come back for. I never knew his real name, nor he mine. I regretted that. This was a kernel for The English.”

Written and directed by Hugo Blick ( The Honourable Woman , The Shadow

Line) and produced by Drama Republic and Blick’s Eight Rooks company in association with All3Media International, The English is a limited TV series where race, love and power combine to tell a story focusing on the themes of identity and revenge.

Aristocratic English woman, Lady Cornelia Locke (Emily Blunt), comes across Native American former US army soldier Eli Whipp (Chaske Spencer) by chance, as she sets out to avenge the murder of her young son.

A terrifying journey leads them to a town in Wyoming where they slowly learn what the future holds for them. Emily Blunt describes the series as “an epic romance and at the same time, a propulsive chase thriller. Cornelia is seeking a blood revenge and Eli is seeking a gangland claim,” she says. “They both see these end goals as being a part