Reg by Jimmy McGovern with Tim Roth and Anna Maxwell Martin BBC One

 

In June 2003, Reg Keys and his wife Sally return to their home in the Welsh countryside. As they switch on the TV to hear six military policemen have been murdered in Iraq, two men arrive bearing the terrible news that their son, Tom, was among them.

Plunged into grief and despair, Sally struggles with the day-to-day reality of having lost her son, while Reg desperately tries to make sense of what has happened.

Reg discovers that three weeks prior to his son’s death the army had ordered a scale-down in weapons and communications, leaving the six men with limited resources to defend themselves. Angered by his belief that it was an army blunder, Reg forms a pressure group entitled Military Families Against The War, and makes a radical decision: to stand against Tony Blair in his home constituency of Sedgefield, in the next General Election, as an independent candidate in opposition to the Iraq war.

Reg begins into an intense on-the-ground daily routine of campaigning. Faced by an electorate in a safe Labour seat, the process is exhausting and takes Reg away from Sally, who continues to struggle with her grief. As election night draws in, and the world’s press gathers in Sedgefield, tensions run high as the final count begins to emerge.

A new drama by Jimmy McGovern. 

Reg Keys is played by Tim Roth, Sally Keys by Anna Maxwell Martin, Richard Keys by Elliott Tittensor and Bob Clay by Ralph Brown.

BBC One’s new drama by Jimmy McGovern (Banished, Common, The Accused) is the story of one man who takes on the British Prime Minister over Britain’s participation in the Iraq War.

Reg will star Tim Roth (The Hateful Eight, Cannes Film Festival award-winning Chronic, Pulp Fiction, Lie To Me) and Anna Maxwell Martin (Becoming Jane, Philomena, Death Comes To Pemberley) in the 90-minute drama which will be directed by David Blair (Common, Accused, The Street) and produced by LA Productions for BBC One.

Jimmy McGovern says: “It was an honour to meet Reg Keys, a truly remarkable man, and it has been a privilege to tell this part of his story.

"When Bob Pugh and I finished the script, they asked me who, in an ideal world, would play the parts of Reg and Sally. Tim Roth and Anna Maxwell Martin, I replied, never dreaming we'd get either. We got both and I am absolutely over the moon.”

Reg follows the true story of Reg Keys on a journey of grief and defiance after his son Tom Keys is one of six RMPs murdered in Al Majar, Iraq. As Reg and his wife Sally have their lives torn apart, questions begin to arise not only around the events that led to their son’s death but also the legitimacy of the war as a whole. Left with questions that the New Labour government and Prime Minister Tony Blair refuse to answer, Reg decides to stand as an independent candidate in Blair’s own constituency of Sedgefield.

Polly Hill, Controller of BBC Drama Commissioning, says: “To have stellar talent, Tim Roth and Anna Maxwell Martin, playing such important and pivotal roles is testament to Jimmy’s honest and gripping writing. With the combination of talent and such a heart-wrenching true story, Reg is sure to bring something unique, special and memorable to BBC One.”

Colin McKeown, Executive Producer, adds: “This is another important project right on the heels of Common. The casting is insanely good but then again so is the script!”

REG will be made by LA Productions for BBC One and is being Produced by Colin McKeown and Donna Molloy for LA Productions (Common, Moving On, Justice). The drama will be executive produced for the BBC by Polly Hill and Jimmy McGovern for LA Productions.