2009
Freddie Jackson
Co-stars: Shaun Evans, Kierston Wareing, Charlotte Riley, Brian Cox
Awards: 2009 Royal Television Society Programme Awards nomination for Best Actor (Tom Hardy)
The Take premiered on Sky1 UK as part of a 4 part episode series on June 17, 2009
Show synopsis: In a crime family saga set in 1984 and spanning 10 years, The Take stars Tom Hardy as violent gangster Freddie Jackson and Brian Cox as devious crime boss Ozzy. Just released from a 4-year stretch in jail, Freddie is now a free man who plans to take the London criminal world by storm. As he lunges into a psychotic rampage of murder and betrayal, his wife Jackie (Kierston Wareing ) becomes increasingly unstable, made worse by the actions of her sister Maggie (Charlotte Riley ) who is in love with Freddie’s cousin, Jimmy (Shaun Evans). If you are a Jackson, then trust no one, because everybody is on The Take in this exciting, uncompromising adaptation of the bestselling crime thriller by Martina Cole.
Tom on his character: “Freddie is like an old school gangster in a new school body – he’s on the fringe of two generations and so he’s discarded during the crossover between the two regimes because of his inability to blend in and to co-operate. Although those same characteristics make him quite a powerful tool as well, he’s capable of acts of great violence delivered with great clarity, which sends out a message in that world. But he’s definitely a carthorse used by the others. And his is the story of ambition and “could have been a contender”. One of desperate need, loss and longing to be accepted, but never being achieved.”
Martina Cole: “They couldn’t have cast it better… Tom and Shaun both bring to life the characters that I created. All of them did a good job. I just hope my readers like it”.
