Inside Man: When is the David Tennant drama released? Who is in the cast? All you need to know about the unmissable series

Inside Man has all the ingredients to be one of the essential TV shows to watch in autumn 2022.

Throw together David Tennant, Stanley Tucci, Dolly Wells and writer Steven ‘Sherlock’ Moffat in a mysterious puzzlebox thriller and you’ve got a surefire hit on your hands.

Little is known about the plot of the series, but the international drama has been described as “fiendishly clever” and promises to keep “the nation gripped” later this year.

Here is everything we know so far about Inside Man…

When is Inside Man released?

Inside Man starts on Monday, 26 September at 9pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.

Inside Man will be released outside the UK on Netflix.

Inside Man cast

• David Tennant (Des, Staged, Doctor Who) - Plays Harry Watling
• Dolly Wells, below (The Pursuit Of Love, Dracula, Can You Ever Forgive Me?) - Plays Janice Fife
• Stanley Tucci, above (Feud, The King’s Man, Spotlight) - Plays Jefferson Grieff
• Lydia West (It’s A Sin, Years And Years, Dracula) - Plays Beth Davenport
• Lyndsey Marshal (Dracula)
• Atkins Estimond (Hightown) - Plays Dillon
• Mark Quarterly (Cursed)
• Tilly Vosburgh (Maigret)
• Louis Oliver (Midnight Mass)
• Kate Dickie (The Witch)
• Dylan Baker (Hunters)

David Tennant plays Harry Watling

"From my character’s point of view, it’s a story about a man who, in pursuit of doing the right thing, makes a series of catastrophically bad decisions," explains Tennant.

"Harry is a vicar in a rather picturesque English village. He seems to have a very happy life, secure in himself, popular with his parishioners and quite a modern vicar. He’s not afraid to use the odd swear word and talk about the world as it is. He has a wife and a teenage son and they seem to be living a fairly normal, happy life."

Stanley Tucci plays Jefferson Grieff

"There are two main characters that we meet in prison," explains Tucci.

"Myself, Jefferson Grieff who has a doctorate in criminology and is a criminologist and solves cases, he’s murdered his wife and is on death row and solves cases from the inside. He is sort of teamed up with a serial rapist murderer by the name of Dillon (played by Atkins Estimond) who has a photographic memory and they are in cells next to each other.

"He uses Dillon as a kind of human recorder when he is doing his interrogations or questioning people about cases as they are handcuffed and can’t write down notes."

"What makes Grieff unique is that number one, he’s a criminologist and he’s a murderer. He is also allowed to still practice whilst on death row – that’s very unusual."

Lydia West plays Beth Davenport

"Beth is an investigative journalist that specialises mainly in crime," reveals Beth Davenport.

"She is first introduced to Janice (Dolly Wells) in the first episode where something happens and their paths cross and I think initially she’s just very intrigued by Janice. They spark this friendship based on Beth’s inquisitiveness to her and I think Beth sees a lot of herself in Janice, and also kind of sees her as a business opportunity too."

The It's A Sin star added: "Her personality does change, throughout the show we kind of see her go through and face such difficult situations and how she handles it is very telling of who she is.

"So Beth at times is compassionate, empathetic and scared but mostly she remains quite consistent in her personality."

Dolly Wells plays Janice Fife

"What’s complicated about Janice is what you see of her, your perception of who she really is might change," said Wells.

"She’s in theory somebody with a very very strong moral code of ethics, she is a real advocator for the truth right from the beginning. So she’s sort of tough, she’s not immediately likeable, I like her *laughs* but she’s complicated.

"If she was your maths tutor she might start to freak you out a bit. She’ll take over your house and make sure everybody is behaving how they should be behaving.

"She’s great because you think you should feel a certain way without giving too much away but then you think you should be rooting for her and yet you aren’t always."

What is The Inside Man plot?

“Everyone’s a murderer. You just have to meet the right person.”

That quote from Stanley Tucci's death row prisoner in the Inside Man trailer is a classic hook for this new mysterious drama.

Tucci's character is seeking atonement as he faces execution. Meanwhile, on a train in England, a journalist (Lydia West) is looking for a story. And in a quiet little village, a vicar (David Tennant) is picking up his son’s maths tutor (Dolly Wells) from the station.

These four characters will soon become entangled in a dilemma that could lead to murder...

Chris Sussman from Netflix, who will release the series outside the UK and Ireland, said it was impossible to talk about the story without giving away spoilers.

All the BBC has confirmed is that the show will follow a prisoner on death row in the US (Tucci’s titular Inside Man), a vicar in a quiet English town (Tennant), and a maths teacher trapped in a cellar.

These characters will "cross paths in the most unexpected way".

Director of BBC Drama Piers Wenger said: "BBC One viewers will already know the television magic created when Steven Moffat writes for David, Dolly and Lydia. With the fantastic Stanley Tucci alongside them as our Inside Man, everything is in place for a series that will have the nation gripped."

Who created Inside Man?

Inside Man is the latest drama from the incredible brain of Steven Moffat.

Best know for his work on Doctor Who and Sherlock, Moffat was also behind the hit sitcom Coupling, 2020's Dracula TV series and HBO's 2022 adaptation of The Time Traveller's Wife.

"This is the best ensemble we’ve ever had the chance to work with. It’s a rare privilege to see scripts come to life as beautifully as this," said Moffat and co-creator Sue Vertue.

The BBC drama commissioning editor Ben Irving said: "Steven Moffat has created another brilliantly original and darkly playful series in Inside Man and it’s no surprise that it has attracted such an extraordinary cast. This will be a ‘must-watch’ when it lands on BBC One and iPlayer."

The series is being directed by Paul McGuigan (Sherlock, Dracula).

Talking about reuniting with his former Doctor Who colleague, David Tennant said: "I just read the script and wanted to be part of it, it’s very particular to Steven Moffat’s brain.

"These two very distinct storylines are both entirely plausible, textured and fascinating in themselves and they are running side by side. It’s very difficult I think to immediately imagine how they will ever come together on different sides of the world, for these characters living entirely separate existence, they couldn’t seem to be more different.

"Yet as an audience we assume there must be some link but really we’re quite far into the story before those links start to appear. It’s part of the set-up of the sort of puzzle of that along with the almost breath-taking awfulness of what occurs, the incremental steps to doom that Harry takes, the unravelling of normality."

Inside Man is coming to BBC One and BBC iPlayer on Monday, 26 September.

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