# Taboo (2017)

> In 1814 London, an enigmatic adventurer returns from Africa with stolen diamonds to avenge his father's death and expose the men who orchestrated it.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/58015

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 8
- Episode runtime: 60 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: drama, mystery
- Created by: Steven Knight, Chips Hardy, Tom Hardy
- Network: BBC One
- Cast: Tom Hardy, David Hayman, Jonathan Pryce, Oona Chaplin, Richard Dixon, Leo Bill, Edward Hogg, Franka Potente
- TMDB rating: 8.3/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3647998/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: dense
- Violence: brutal
- Tone: brooding, gothic, menacing, morally bleak, tense

## What critics say

Audiences broadly acclaimed Taboo as a dark, atmospheric period drama anchored by Tom Hardy's commanding lead performance.

## Synopsis

Taboo (2017) is a British period drama series created by Steven Knight, Chips Hardy and Tom Hardy for BBC One. Tom Hardy plays James Keziah Delaney, an enigmatic adventurer who returns to a menacing 1814 London with fourteen stolen diamonds, determined to avenge the death of his father. Around him orbit David Hayman as Brace, Jonathan Pryce as Stuart Strange, and Oona Chaplin as Zilpha Geary, each entangled in the city's shadowy trading and political networks. The engine of the story is Delaney's patient hunt for the people responsible, pitted against blackmail, shifting alliances and the commercial ambitions of a powerful company. Each episode peels back another layer of concealed motives and hidden ledgers, so the mystery builds steadily across the run. Presented as a single eight-episode season, it unfolds as one continuing story rather than a case-of-the-week format. Set in the fog-choked streets of Georgian London and the wider reach of empire, it carries a brooding, gothic and morally bleak tone. Fans of Peaky Blinders, Penny Dreadful and The Knick will find resonance in its mood, its period texture and its anti-hero at the center of a dangerous world.

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