The success of Orphan Black for BBC America has perhaps given the channel a taste for intellectual sci-fi, so here comes THE INTRUDERS from Glen Morgan (X Files, Millennium). It's based on a book series by Michael Marshall Smith and concerns a "secret society chasing immortality by seeking refuge in the bodies of others". In other words, someone made a book-turned-TV-show out of the explanation to 1999's Being John Malkovich?
The trailer is quite long, and yet oddly impenetrable. Maybe that's what they were going for, to make us feel intrigued and eager to discover more, but it just bored me. There's certainly some potential here, and I like the casting of John Simm (Life on Mars), James Frain (True Blood), and Robert Forster (Heroes), but I hope the next trailer is less baffling and just sells the story more.
Here's the official synopsis of the show:
A contemporary, chilling, paranormal tale set in the moody Pacific Northwest, INTRUDERS spins a fascinating and complex web of drama. As strange, apparently unrelated events start happening, multiple story-lines—a missing wife, an assassin covering his crimes, a child on the run—begin to intertwine to reveal a conspiracy that will forever change our understanding of human nature.Clear now?
THE INTRUDERS premieres 23 August 2014 on BBC America. I would hazard a guess BBC Three will eventually get hold of it for UK eyes, as they did Orphan Black.
