Archie is a 2023 British television drama series about the life of Cary Grant starring Jason Isaacs in the lead role with Kara Tointon, Harriet Walter, Jason Watkins, Calam Lynch, and Laura Aikman.

Synopsis

The series depicts the man originally named Archibald Leach, born into poverty in Bristol in 1904, before he became Hollywood's Cary Grant. Scenes set later, in the 1960s, feature Grant in Los Angeles with personal issues affecting his happiness despite international stardom and many hit movies.^[2][3][4][5]

Cast

Production

Despite Grant's Bristol upbringing, and the city of Bristol being the setting for large parts of the series, filming actually took place in the city of Liverpool in the summer of 2022. The four part series is written by Jeff Pope.^[9] Filming also took place in Manchester and Cheshire in September 2022.^[10] Pope interviewed Grant's daughter Jennifer Grant and Grant's ex-wife Dyan Cannon for the production and both act as Executive Producers. ITV Studios produce with BritBox International as co-producers and Paul Andrew Williams as director.^[11] In September 2022, Harriet Walter was added to the cast as Grant's mother Elsie Leach, and Calam Lynch, Dainton Anderson and Oaklee Pendergast were added as younger versions of Archie. Additional cast members added included Jason Watkins, Lisa Faulkner, Niamh Cusack, Kara Tointon, Laura Aikman, Henry Lloyd-Hughes, Ian Puleston-Davies and Ian McNeice.^[12]

Broadcast

The series became available on 23 November 2023 in the UK, on the streaming service ITVX, and will subsequently be broadcast on ITV. ^[13] The series became available in the USA on the 7 December 2023, on the streaming service BritBox. ^[14]

Reception

News of the production was reported by The Independent as having a positive response by fans.^[15]