BBC One's 'Rain Dogs' To Debut on HBO in March 2023

The BBC originally announced it was commissioning a series from Cash Carraway, a graduate of its emerging writers' program to find a new generation of voices, back in May 2021. At the time, it had no working title other than "Cash Carraway," but with comedian Daisy May Cooper (The Personal History of David Copperfield) attached as the lead, it looked promising. However, at the time other projects with more mainstream recognition overshadowed the series' initial announcement, including Dolly Alderton's Everything I Know About Love, Michaela Cole's getting an untitled followup to I May Destroy You, and Shane Meadows (This Is England series) taking on his first-ever period piece.

Like Alderton, who also did the BBC's emerging writers series, the London-born Irish writer Carraway came to prominence as a book author first for her 2019 bestselling memoir Skint Estate, recounting her life as a working-class, single mother living in the council estates in the early 2010s. Though the series is not based on her book the same way Alderton's was, it does have the same background, focusing on a single mother (played by Cooper) trying to pull herself out of her poverty-stricken surroundings for the sake of her daughter.

Since then, there hasn't been that much about Carraway's series, other than the title, Rain Dogs, and a notice when filming began that HBO had hopped on board to co-produce, a move that happened less than two weeks before the Discovery Networks merger closed. But finally, the series has released a couple of first-look images and now finally announced a stateside premiere date, arriving on HBO and HBO Max in early March 2023.

Here's the series logline:

Rain Dogs is a wild and punky tale of a mother’s love for her daughter, of deep-rooted and passionate friendships, and of brilliance thwarted by poverty and prejudice. Told with a dark lick of humour and an anarchic attitude, Rain Dogs features Costello Jones, her daughter Iris, and her BFFs Selby and Gloria Duke. They are our four glorious Rain Dogs; a makeshift swaggerous family fed on defiance and chaos, and a deep but complicated love.

Cooper stars as Costello Jones, the writer and single mother star of the series, and newcomer Fleur Tashjian as her hustler-in-training daughter, Iris Jones. They're joined by Jack Farthing (Poldark) as Selby, a boarding school boy, and Costello's loyal soulmate and loving tormentor, and Ronkẹ Adékoluẹjo (Doctor Who) as Gloria, chaotic, directionless, and utterly glorious godmother to Iris. Other co-stars include Emily Fairn (The Responder), Joshua Parris (The Suspect), and James Ashton (Da Vinci's Demons). Directors Richard Laxton (Mum) and Jennifer Perrott (Gentleman Jack) split helming duties on the eight-episode series.

Fans should note that though the BBC has not announced its release date, HBO is again putting this show in the Monday berth, much like it did with Chernobyl and His Dark Materials, where they aired one night after BBC debuts on Sunday nights. Considering that the Monday night berth is not doing particularly well for HBO, it's a good guess that when BBC One announces Rain Dog's U.K. premiere date, it will be precisely one day before the HBO debut.

Rain Dogs premieres Monday, March 6, 2023, at 10 p.m. ET on HBO and begins streaming on HBO Max simultaneously, with one episode a week to follow.