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Identity - Preview & competition

Identity

Preview by Jack Foley

IDENTITY, the new six part ITV drama series starring Aidan Gillen and Keeley Hawes, is available to own on DVD from August 16, 2010, courtesy of ITV STUDIOS Home Entertainment.

Ed Whitmore’s series follows an elite police unit formed to combat the explosion of identity-related crime and tackles the darker side of reinvention: murders who literally take other people’s lives, criminals who create new personas to escape evil pasts and impostors who look, talk and sound just like us but would kill you in a heartbeat.

The unit, lead by DSI Martha Lawson, (Keeley Hawes – Ashes to Ashes, Spooks), works in situations where making an identification plays a significant part of solving the crime by outsmarting, hunting down and unmasking the modern day Jekyll and Hyde.

DSI Lawson is also the founder of the unit – which she fought long and hard for – and its perilous fate is a constant source of anxiety to her. She knows she took a gamble in hiring DI John Bloom, played by Aidan Gillen (The Wire, Queer as Folk) – the secret weapon of the Identity Unit.

Crucially, Bloom is an ex-undercover cop so he knows firsthand what it’s like to pretend to be someone you are not. He’s also only too aware of how easy it is to lose your own identity when you’re living a lie…

Holly Aird (Torn, Waking the Dead) is Tessa Stein, IT expert in everything from trawling databases to cracking security codes.

Completing the team are DS Anthony Wareing (Shaun Parkes – Moses Jones, Harley Street), who has his eye on promotion and a stance on cases that can err on the self-righteous, and DC José Rodriguez (Elyes Gabel – Waterloo Road, Deadset), cocky and self-assured yet with a seriousness and sensitivity that gives him insight into cases.

As the series unfolds, DS Wareing becomes more and more concerned about Bloom’s methods and frustrated by what he sees as Martha’s blind and foolish indulgence of him.

The series, an ITV Studios production, follows a hugely successful DVD release of hit drama Spooks. Identity was directed by Brendan Maher (Spooks, Wide Sargasso Sea) and Andy Hay (Hotel Babylon, Trial and Retribution).

It was written and created by Ed Whitmore (He Kills Coppers, Waking the Dead) and also written by Edward Bennett (Waking the Dead).

Win Identity on DVD

To celebrate the release of Identity on DVD on August 16, 2010, IndieLondon is offering readers the chance to win 1 of 3 copies. Simply answer the following question…

Q. What is the name of the character played by Aidan Gillen in Identity?

Simply send the answer to Identity competition and include your name, address, telephone number and email

Certificate: 15
Running time: 276mins
UK DVD Release: August 16, 2010