BritBox's 'Archie' Lands a December Release Date

In the current era of prestige TV, actors who are “secretly British” are everywhere. The forthcoming Masters of the Air, for example, is about WWII’s American Air Force’s Bloody Hundredth, but two-thirds of its stars hail from their British allies. Fans are so used to Undercover Brits being in their shows, playing everything from Mormons to science fiction heroes, it’s just expected for at least one or two to suddenly start speaking with a British accent when out of character. However, when American actors of the Golden Age suddenly turn out to have been British all along, that’s when eyebrows start popping up. Such is the case with All-American heartthrob Cary Grant, who was really Bristol-born boy Archibald Leach. 

The new ITVX-BritBox biographic miniseries Archie promises to dig into the hidden life of Leach, born into extreme poverty in Edwardian England, and charts his unlikely path to stardom and Hollywood royalty in the Swinging 60s Los Angeles. However, actor Jason Isaacs, who plays the actor in his golden years, warns viewers not to expect this to be all about Grant’s greatest hits. In the latest edition of Radio Times Magazine, Isaacs confessed that when he first was told about the project, he wasn’t sure he wanted to do it. “I thought I ought to run a million miles in the other direction.” After all, “Cary Grant was dazzlingly suave, a lady-killer and beloved by the entire world.”

“Then I read the script and realized this was about Archie Leach, not Cary Grant. It’s about a damaged man who created an avatar so people couldn’t see how damaged he was. He got the whole world to love him, but he was riddled with anxiety and addiction. He destroyed his first four marriages — and almost every other relationship, too. He only found peace when he gave it all up and realized it wasn’t the adulation of the world he wanted. He needed to love himself.”

Here's the biographical series' synopsis:

Born in Bristol, England in 1904, to parents Elsie and Elias, Archie narrates the story of a young Archibald Alexander Leach’s troubled childhood and how extreme poverty, his father’s adultery and the loss of his older brother, John, tore the family apart and sent his loving mother into a downward spiral of grief and depression. At 14, he auditioned for the music hall act, the Bob Pender Troupe, a band of acrobats, stilt walkers, clowns and comedians after seeing them perform at the Bristol Hippodrome. Lean and athletic, he learned the art of stilt walking, and when the troupe went on tour to the US, teenage Archie was intoxicated by the land of opportunity. Believing he had no family to return to in the UK, he decided to stay in the US to try to make his way in showbusiness. A chance meeting with the comedian George Burns helped him find his first footing on the acting ladder, and Cary Grant was born. 

At the height of his fame, living in Benedict Canyon, Los Angeles, the legendary actor was breaking all box office records, but desperately unhappy in his private life. With two failed marriages behind him, he began to woo an actress he’d seen on a TV show, Dyan Cannon. Thirty-three years his junior, Dyan, didn’t initially fall for his charms turning down his attempts to meet, because she didn’t feel they could ever be a match. Dashingly handsome, suave and sophisticated, Cary continued to pursue her, with introductions to his famous friends, until they eventually wed in Las Vegas in 1965.

Dainton Anderson (Patrick Melrose), Oaklee Pendergast (The Missing) and Calam Lynch (Bridgerton) play Archie Leach from school age through adulthood, with Isaacs taking over the role as the successful and re-named Cary Grant. Harriet Walter (Killing Eve) co-stars as Elsie Leach, Archie's elderly mother, with Kara Tointon (Mr Selfridge) as the young Elsie and Laura Aikman (London Kills) as Cary’s future third wife, Dyan Cannon. The rest of the cast includes Henry Lloyd-Hughes (Les Misérables), Ian Pulston-Davies (DI Ray), Ian McNeice (Doc Martin), Jason Watkins (McDonald & Dodds), Lisa Faulkner (The Girl Before) and Niamh Cusack (The Tower) 

All four episodes were directed by Paul Andrew Williams (Broadchurch), who also serves as executive producer alongside Jeff Pope for Etta Pictures and Diederick Santer for BritBox International. Both Dyan Cannon and Cary Grant’s daughter, Jennifer Grant, also executive produced the series.

Archie will arrive with all episodes on ITVX on Thursday, November 23, followed by a full drop on BritBox in the U.S. two weeks later, on Thursday, December 7, 2023.