Boiling Point (2023 TV series)

Boiling Point is a four-episode British television drama series created by Philip Barantini, James Cummings and Stephen Graham. Starring Graham, Vinette Robinson and Hannah Walters, the series premiered with its first episode on BBC One on 1 October 2023 and all episodes were released on BBC iPlayer on the same day. It was made for the BBC by Ascendant Fox, Matriarch Productions and It's All Made Up Productions.

Boiling Point
Created by
Based onBoiling Point
by Philip Barantini and James Cummings
Screenplay by
  • Dan Cadan
  • James Cummings
  • Alex Tenenbaum
  • Nathaniel Stevens
Directed by
  • Philip Barantini
  • Mounia Akl
Starring
Theme music composer
  • Aaron May
  • David Ridley
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series1
No. of episodes4
Production
Executive producers
  • Philip Barantini
  • Stephen Graham
  • Rebeccah Ferguson
  • Hannah Walters
  • Bart Ruspoli
  • Hester Ruoff
  • James Cummings
ProducerGraham Drover
CinematographyMatthew Lewis
Editor
Alex Fountain
  • Tommy Boulding
Running time60 minutes
Production companies
  • Ascendant Fox
  • Matriarch Productions
  • It's All Made Up Productions
Release
Original networkBBC One
Original release1 October (2023-10-01) –
22 October 2023 (2023-10-22)

Co-directed by Philip Barantini and Mounia Akl, it is a spin-off of the 2021 film Boiling Point, also directed by Barantini and featuring many of the same cast.

Synopsis

The series picks up six-months after the film ends with Carly (Robinson) now running her own restaurant with former boss Andy's (Graham) staff.[1]

Cast

Episodes
No.
overall		No. in
series		TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal release date
11"Episode 1"Philip BarantiniJames Cummings1 October 2023 (2023-10-01)

It is six months since Andy's heart attack. His much feted restaurant, Jones & Sons has shut down but his former sous-chef Carly has just opened a new northern-influenced fine dining restaurant called Point North, taking most of the kitchen and front of house staff with her. With Carly now head chef, Freeman has stepped into the role of sous-chef, but like Andy before her, the pressure of juggling her professional and personal life is starting to take a toll.

On a night when the restaurant is full, co-owner Liam is wining and dining a group of prospective investors, but Carly abandons the kitchen staff to attend to a family medical emergency, which subsequently turns out to be a false alarm.

New starter Johnny has bluffed his way into the position of chef de partie. His first task is to make a Hollandaise sauce, but having never made it from scratch he discreetly looks up the recipe, but is unsuccessful in the execution. Clearly out of his depth, the inexperienced newcomer is moved from station to station, until finally finding himself at the pass where he starts to find his feet, but when he intervenes to put out a pan fire he burns himself.

When Freeman loses this temper, he is called into a meeting with Liam and Carly. On the receiving end of what he feels is an undeserved dressing down he resigns. Pastry chef Emily visits Andy at home. Seeing the shadow of the talented chef he used to be, she attempts to mediate between him and Carly, but is rebuffed.
22"Episode 2"Philip BarantiniJames Cummings8 October 2023 (2023-10-08)

Emily is attending an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting when Andy arrives. She reveals she started drinking to cope with a loss, but has been sober for around a decade. She agrees to become Andy's sponsor.

Liam has sourced a new produce supplier in an effort to cut costs, one that has substituted frozen for fresh meat. At service that evening, a new menu is being launched and Jamie has his first desert featuring on it. His lack of self-belief is not helped by fellow chef Bolton haranguing him throughout service and the intense pressure leads Jamie to commit an act of extreme self-harm. Thanks to his training in the army, Johnny keeps a level head when all those around him are losing theirs and administers first-aid until an ambulance arrives.

Demoted to position of commis chef, Johnny is still struggling to refine his output to the level required for a fine dining establishment, but when he backs up Bolton in the dining room as Carly and Dean are dealing with a particularly rowdy couple, a mutual respect starts to develop.

Carly discovers that a group of her friends are dining on one of the tables and realises how life as a restauranteur has become all-encompassing when she has a chat with them. The emotional turmoil of the evening has Emily reaching for the bottle.
33"Episode 3"Mounia AklJames Cummings15 October 2023 (2023-10-15)

Jake, struggling to make ends meet is working a second job, doing night shifts in a warehouse, so when Carly decides to reduce the kitchen porters to one per shift in another attempt to reduce overheads, Holly offers to leave so that Jake can be kept on full time. Carly, unwilling to put all her eggs in one basket for a seven-days-a-week position, declines Holly's offer.

Liam asks Carly if they can do a completely different menu as Point North is stepping in to host his brother's friend's wedding reception. Despite Carly's reservations, new sous-chef Nick is enthusiastic and offers to develop a menu.

Emily confesses to Carly that she has fallen off the wagon. She meets with Andy for a chat in the park, where he receives a call from former Jones & Sons Maitre D' Beth asking him to drop by. Returning to his old restaurant, now trading under a new name, Andy is asked to sign a legal document transferring his shares in the business over to Beth, as her father has paid off Andy's loan from Alastair Skye. He discovers Freeman working in the kitchen and the two reconcile.

Discovering the level of Jake's debt and his inability to provide for his family, Holly suggests she runs an errand for her Uncle Charlie; a simple delivery that will pay a couple of grand, cash in hand. Jake reluctantly agrees on the condition that he accompanies her and they split the money, although this means both of them will miss service.
44"Episode 4"Mounia AklJames Cummings22 October 2023 (2023-10-22)


Production

The series is a sequel to the 2021 film Boiling Point, a one-shot film set in a restaurant kitchen. It itself was an expansion of a 2019 short film of the same name, also directed by Barantini and starring Graham.[2][3] In October 2022 it was revealed that a series following on from the film with the same creative team had been commissioned by BBC One.[4] The series consists of four one-hour episodes with Barantini directing the first two and Mounia Akl directing the last two.[5] [6] Graham Drover is the series producer and Rebecca Ferguson is executive producer for the BBC. The series is written by James Cummings with writers Dan Cadan, Alex Tenenbaum and Nathaniel Stevens joining the team.[7][8]

Casting

In February 2023 Steven Ogg was revealed to have joined the cast. Graham, Robinson and Walters all reprise their original roles from the film, as do Panthaki, Lamont, Daly, Skylar, Larkai, McMillan, Traylen and Hoyle.[9]

Filming

Filming began in January 2023 in Manchester.[10]

Broadcast

Episode one aired on BBC One in the United Kingdom on 1 October 2023 in the 9pm time slot,[11] with all four episodes becoming available on its iPlayer streaming service the same day.[12]

BBC Studios is handling international distribution.[13]

Critical reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 100% of 12 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.3/10. The website's consensus reads: "A culinary drama with palpable tension simmering beneath the surface, Boiling Point generates an absorbing amount of heat."[14]

Nick Clark of the Evening Standard gave it a five out of five stars, commenting that it "gives us just a taste of the anxiety and the adrenaline of this world. It's an extraordinary peek behind the kitchen door, and an uncomfortable one. But as a drama, the ingredients are spot on and the execution superb."[15] Another five star review came from Morgan Cormack of The Radio Times, describing it as "a perfect example of what stellar character-driven drama is." Of the casting, Morgan opined that "the magic of having such an ensemble isn't to be taken lightly - it truly is a work of magnificence."[16]

Dan Einav of the Financial Times awarded the show four stars, stating that "The main cast broadly rise to the challenge but there’s a ready-made quality to some of the plotting and scene-setting. The point that chefs both depend on and deplore their customers is overstretched... It can also strain credulity to make each night revolve around a disaster."[17] Another four star review came from Nick Hilton of The Independent, again praising both the “quality of the acting” and the writing.[18] Four stars also from Emily Baker of the i, who said that the “TV version never quite matched the heights” of the feature film and bemoaned the lack of screen time afforded to Stephen Graham.[19]

The Times critic, Carol Midgley also awarded the show four stars,[20] as did Rebecca Nicholson at The Guardian, who also singled out the “excellent cast.”[21] The Observer's Joel Golby lauded "a brilliant script, a phenomenal cast and some absolutely beautiful filming" and went on to state that "this hugely stressful series is one of the best things on television this year... British TV at its very finest."[22]

References
  1. "Line of Duty and Sherlock stars announced for Boiling Point TV adaptation". Digital Spy. Archived from the original on 30 January 2023. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
  2. Boyce, Laurence (23 August 2021). "Karlovy Vary 2021: Philip Barantini talks filming 'Boiling Point' in one take". Screen Daily. Archived from the original on 25 September 2021. Retrieved 19 October 2021.
  3. Aftab, Kaleem (31 August 2021). "Philip Barantini • Director of Boiling Point". Cineuropa. Archived from the original on 24 October 2021. Retrieved 19 October 2021.
  4. "Boiling Point' TV series to be made with original creative team for the BBC (exclusive)". Screen Daily. Archived from the original on 23 October 2022. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
  5. "Boiling Point TV Series Confirms Cast As Shooting Begins". Empire. Archived from the original on 30 January 2023. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
  6. "First look at Boiling Point TV series starring Stephen Graham". RadioTimes. Archived from the original on 31 August 2023. Retrieved 27 October 2023.
  7. "Full casting announced for Boiling Point, as filming begins on the brand new BBC drama series". BBC.co.uk. Archived from the original on 30 January 2023. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
  8. "First look at Boiling Point TV series starring Stephen Graham". RadioTimes. Archived from the original on 31 August 2023. Retrieved 27 October 2023.
  9. "Walking Dead' Star Steven Ogg Boards BBC 'Boiling Point' Sequel". Deadline. 23 February 2023. Archived from the original on 23 February 2023. Retrieved 23 February 2023.
  10. "BBC's Boiling Point TV series based on movie starring Stephen Graham begins filming in Manchester". Manchester Evening News. Archived from the original on 30 January 2023. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
  11. Glanfield, Tim (2 April 2023). "The best TV shows still to come in 2023". The Times. Archived from the original on 4 April 2023. Retrieved 3 April 2023.
  12. "Boiling Point - Series 1: Episode 4", BBC iPlayer, archived from the original on 23 October 2023, retrieved 2 October 2023
  13. "BBC Series 'Boiling Point' Reveals Full Cast, Commences Filming". Variety. Archived from the original on 30 January 2023. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
  14. "Boiling Point". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
  15. Clark, Nick (26 September 2023). "Boiling Point on BBC One: ingredients and execution are *chef's kiss*". Evening Standard. Archived from the original on 5 October 2023. Retrieved 1 October 2023.
  16. "Boiling Point review: Stephen Graham takes a backseat in this stellar slice of TV". Radio Times. Archived from the original on 26 October 2023. Retrieved 1 October 2023.
  17. Einav, Dan (29 September 2023). "Boiling Point TV review — sequel to the single-shot restaurant drama arrives on BBC1". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 10 October 2023. Retrieved 1 October 2023.
  18. "Boiling Point's TV series takes us back inside the turbulence of the kitchen – review". The Independent. 2 October 2023. Archived from the original on 20 October 2023. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  19. Baker, Emily (1 October 2023). "Stephen Graham's Boiling Point TV sequel turns down the heat". inews.co.uk. Archived from the original on 19 October 2023. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  20. Midgley, Carol (8 October 2023). "Boiling Point review — a feast of realism, camaraderie and claustrophobia". ISSN 0140-0460. Archived from the original on 5 October 2023. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  21. Nicholson, Rebecca (1 October 2023). "Boiling Point review – TV that asks what if The Bear isn't stressful enough?". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 25 October 2023. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  22. Golby, Joel (30 September 2023). "Boiling Point: this nailbiting kitchen drama is British TV at its finest". The Observer. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 19 October 2023. Retrieved 1 October 2023.
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