Ukweli Roach, Sacha Dhawan & Iwan Rheon Face Off in BBC’s 'WOLF'

Seemingly overnight, BBC’s newest thriller series WOLF has burst onto the scene with a spine-chilling trailer and an all-star cast. This six-part crime drama is based on the gruesome and twisted Jack Caffery novels, a contemporary thriller series written by Mo Hayder. The show stars a dream team of a trio: Ukweli Roach (Annika), Sacha Dhawan (Doctor Who), and Iwan Rheon (Game of Thrones).

Roach will play the titular DI Jack Caffery, and Dhawan and Rheon will play a pair of professional cons, Honey and Molina, unexpectedly thrown together on a job. The screenplay for the series is written and adapted by Norway-based, American-born screenwriter Megan Gallagher (Suspicion) and produced by Hartswood Films, the production company behind some of the most recognizable titles in recent British TV, including Sherlock, Inside Man, and The Devil’s Hour. APC Studios will coproduce. The first three episodes are directed by Kristoffer Nyholm (The Vanishing), and the final three by Lee Haven Jones (The Long Call).

The official synopsis is as follows:

DI Jack Caffery is a young detective beset by nightmares. Obsessed with the neighbour he believes murdered his 10 year-old brother in the 90s, Jack finds himself trying to right the wrongs of others - but at what cost? In an isolated house in Monmouthshire, the wealthy Anchor-Ferrers family find themselves the victims of a psychopath’s cruel games, trapped and terrorised. When the two narratives collide, it’s a thrilling, nail-biting and deeply disturbing race against time.

Gallagher has teased that the two storylines collide in “one heck of a finale that includes song and dance (yes, really), and a fair bit of blood.” Now that’s a finale that will have to be seen to be believed.

The Anchor-Ferres family will be played by Juliet Stevenson (Out Of Her Mind) and Owen Teale (Line Of Duty) as Matilda and Oliver Anchor-Ferrers, Annes Elwy (The Light In The Hall) as their adult daughter Lucia. Sian Reese-Williams (Line of Duty) also stars as DI Lincoln.

The very Welsh cast also includes Ciarán Joyce (Gran Turismo), Kai Owen (Torchwood), Anthony Webster (The Legend of Mordred), Gethin Alderman (The Great), Kezia Burrows (Doctors), Karl Johnson (Call the Midwife), Tim Treloar (Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?), Zadeiah Campbell-Davies (In My Skin), Gwïon Morris Jones (Masters of the Air), Hwyel Simons (The Bill), Amanda Drew (The Gold), and emerging actors Emma Cooney and Emily Adara.

With the character of DI Jack Caffery, Gallagher promises to breathe new life into the crime drama genre.

I was initially drawn to WOLF because, unlike so many crime novels, it’s a proper thriller, with massively high stakes and a hugely climatic finale. But at the heart of it all is Mo Hayder’s central character, whom I truly adore: DI Jack Caffery. What sets Jack apart from so many other maverick detective characters is rather simple – he’s a millennial. At just 32 years of age, Jack isn’t dealing with a failed marriage or a strained relationship with his children. He’s also not a deeply corrupt detective. Rather, he’s trying to make all of these life decisions for the first time. Do I want a relationship or family? What kind of detective am I going to be?

The millennial detective isn’t the only aspect of the show that is poised to surprise audiences and defy expectations. Dhawan said of the show and his role, "The script was a real page-turner, and it really wasn't what I expected. I initially thought I was just coming in as a detective, but by the end of episode one, I quickly realised it’s nothing like I’ve ever really done before, and something that I certainly haven’t seen on British TV before. It’s a really interesting genre, but it also straddles an interesting tone which I really like, especially in my storyline, which is drama but also dark comedy and sickly humor."

The cast and creative team behind the show have all extolled the cast’s chemistry. Iwan Rheon said of his duo with Sacha Dhawan, “It’s been lovely working with Sacha to create this little double act and it’s been really good trying to make it as fun and weird as possible… I think they're mostly unsettling because they're pretty incompetent, and they have a penchant for the theatrical - Honey in particular, but Molina is a bit of a liability.” For star Ukweli Roach, DI Caffery is “the best script I’ve ever read and the best part I’ve ever played.”

WOLF will air on BBC starting July 31, 2023. Unfortunately for those of us in the US, there is no word yet about when WOLF will be headed our way. Time to put the trailer on a loop and cross your fingers that WOLF will make a swift journey to North American shores.