NIKKI McCHRISTIE.
Editor

Contemporary thriller with a strong vein of black humour. Guilt follows two very different Scottish brothers.

 

In a residential street in Edinburgh, Max and Jake run down an old man while Jake is driving them back from a wedding - stoned and uninsured.

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They carry on with their lives, hoping Walter's death will be passed off as natural causes, but the brothers end up being pulled further into Walter's world.

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Guilt is a Scottish thriller and mystery series, which was the first drama commission of the new BBC Scotland channel and first broadcast there before being broadcast on BBC Two. Written and created by Neil Forsyth, the show initially centers on two brothers, played by Mark Bonnar and Jamie Sives, who get involved in a hit and run, before involving a large number of cast in an ongoing story.

 

The first series of Guilt was broadcast in 2019, and the second series broadcast in the autumn of 2021. The show was a critical hit and was subsequently broadcast around the world including in America (PBS), France (Arte), Australia (BBC First), Sweden (Sveriges Television), Germany (Arte), Portugal (RTP2) and South Africa (Showmax).

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Guilt received strong viewing figures and a highly positive critical reception. The Times called it, "An absolute cracker", The Observer, "an utter triumph, a word-of-mouth dazzler", with "welcome Coen brothers echoes". The Telegraph called it a "stealth hit" which "felt like Fargo relocated to Leith, or Midnight Run reimagined by Irvine Welsh". The Independent termed it "the unexpected treat of the year”, The Guardian described it as a "darkly delicious tale" that was "fast becoming a word-of-mouth hit", the Radio Times called it "Hitchcockian" and The Herald deemed it the most impressive Scottish small screen debut since the 1987 comedy-drama Tutti Frutti.

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The first series of Guilt was nominated for a large number of awards and won 2020 Best Drama at the Scottish BAFTA Awards, the Royal Television Society of Scotland Awards, the Celtic Media Festival, and the Broadcast Digital Awards.