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Neil Forsyth - Guilt

If the best things come in threes, the third and final series of Guilt completes an unholy trinity to savour. Since it first aired in 2019, Neil Forsyth’s dryly dark Edinburgh set drama has charted the fallout of what happened when Mark Bonnar and Jamie Sives’ Leith-based brothers Max and Jake accidentally ran someone over. With lawyer Max doing a spell in choky while record shop anorak Jake decamped to Chicago, series two saw Max embark on further murky adventures, with Emun Elliot’s hapless Kenny in tow.

 

With the siblings reunited, series three sees them ditch the job lot of fezzes purloined for Moroccan Monday at their Chicago bar to make a prodigal’s return to Leith. Beyond Kenny’s stress related sperm count and talk of vegan raves, Edinburgh’s banking fraternity are brought to the fore.

 

“It’s very much driven by the brothers again,” says Forsyth of Guilt 3 over Zoom. “I think it was good for them to have that time apart in series two, because having them back together feels like they've got fresh conflict, as well as historical baggage. Seeing them back bickering away and trying to battle both the situation and each other is really nice.” 

 

With the final series of Guilt arriving hot on the heels of The Gold, Forsyth’s six-part drama based around the real life 1983 Brink’s-Mat robbery, finishing Guilt has been a bittersweet experience.

 

“There’s a certain sadness to it,” Forsyth admits. “I first had the idea of Guilt in 2015, and it’s been eight years of my life, so it’s quite sad to think that's kind of it. Creatively, I feel very good about it, both in terms of the series itself and the decision to stick to my plan for the trilogy. It feels like it's got a nice shape to it. Each series has had its theme. Guilt in series one, then revenge in two, and I think this series is about redemption.” 

 

Beyond Guilt, this year will see the cinema release of Dance First, Forsyth’s bio-pic of Samuel Beckett, starring Gabriel Byrne as the Dublin born novelist and playwright. This follows Waiting for Andre, a 2018 short about the unlikely friendship between Beckett and seven-foot-four wrestler, Andre the Giant. With Max and Jake a quasi-Beckettian double act of sorts, existential knockabout is never far away in Forsyth’s work.

 

“You don't need to look hard for the pattern,” he says. “It’s probably something to do with being a Dundee United fan.”

 

Guilt screens on BBC Scotland, Tuesday 25thApril, 10-11pm; BBC Two, Thursday 27thApril, 9-10pm; all episodes on BBC iPlayer from Tuesday 25thApril.


The List, April 2023

 

ends


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