Cruel Train

British TV series or programme

David Suchet
Saskia Reeves
Adrian Dunbar
Alec McCowen
Minnie Driver
Richard Ridings
Melanie Hill

ComposerNick BicâtCountry of originUnited KingdomNo. of episodes1ProductionExecutive producers

George Faber
Chris Parr

ProducerMervyn Gill-DoughertyCinematographySean Van HalesEditorMasahiro HirakuboRunning time100 minutesProduction companyBBC WorldwideOriginal releaseNetworkBBC2Release22 December 1996 (1996-12-22)

Cruel Train (also known as The Beast in Man^[1]) is a British television crime drama, written and directed by Malcolm McKay, and first broadcast on BBC2 on 22 December 1996.^[2] Based on Émile Zola's 1890 novel La Bête humaine, and set during the Blitz, the film stars David Suchet as Ruben Roberts, a railway official who discovers that his wife, Selina (Saskia Reeves), was sexually abused as a child by the Chairman of the Line, Arthur Grandridge (David Belcher), who is her godfather.^[3] Assisted by Selina, Ruben plots to murder Grandridge on the Brighton Express.^[4]

Filming for Cruel Train took place at Pebble Mill Studios between 25 November and 22 December 1994, with a budget of £1.25 million. The set was built entirely from scratch in a disused warehouse on the site of the former GEC turbine and transformer works, which was demolished shortly after filming ceased.^[5] In 1996, Cruel Train was nominated for the British Academy Television Craft Award for Best Original Television Music. Despite remaining commercially unreleased on VHS or DVD, Cruel Train is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video in the United States.^[4]

Cast

David Suchet as Ruben Roberts
Saskia Reeves as Selina Roberts
Adrian Dunbar as Jack Dando
Alec McCowen as Supt. Fish
Jonathan Moore as Sgt. Handy
Richard Ridings as Percy Cotton
Melanie Hill as Phyllis Pratt
Vivienne Burgess as Mrs. Liddle
Gerard Horan as Colin Caine
Minnie Driver as Flora Mussell
Bryan Pringle as Maurice Mussell
Sheila Reid as Vera Mussell
Patrick Godfrey as Mr. Davidson
Steven Crossley as John Muster
Paul McKay as Henry Holloway
David Belcher as Arthur Grandridge
N15 class no. 777 as the locomotive

References

^ "Cruel Train (1996)". BFI. Archived from the original on 4 June 2016. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
^ "Cruel Train – BBC Two England – 22 December 1996". BBC Genome. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
^ "Cruel Train (BBC-2 1996, David Suchet, Minnie Driver)". Memorable TV. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
^ ^a ^b "Cruel Train: David Suchet, Saskia Reeves". Amazon. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
^ "Cruel Train: Pebble Mill Studios". Pebble Mill. Retrieved 29 December 2018.