The Cage on BBC1 has been described as better than sex by some, but for Michael Socha's character Matty, gambling is a consuming obsession that leaves no room for anything else.
A World on the Skids
Writer Tony Schumacher, known for The Responder, creates a similarly bleak and urgent world in The Cage. The drama follows Matty, a casino manager whose life is spiraling out of control. He sleeps in his office, drinks himself unconscious, and owes £16,500 to a loan shark. He can't pay maintenance for his teenage daughter and has lost a bag of cocaine he was forced to look after.
Every scene is fuelled with a noisy urgency verging on panic. Schumacher's characters are not inherently bad—they care, they love, they hope—but they cannot catch a break in this crime-ridden netherworld poisoned by drugs.
Sheridan Smith's Desperate Smile
Sheridan Smith plays Leanne, a colleague of Matty's who works behind the security bars of the casino. She is looking after her grandmother (Geraldine James), who has dementia, and faces homelessness without her. Smith perfects her desperate smile; the more she beams, the worse she feels.
In one shocking scene, Leanne screams on a rooftop carpark. When a woman asks if she is okay, she replies, 'I've got kids,' as if that is the only thing holding her back.
The Risky Plan
When Matty and Leanne hatch a plan to steal from the casino's profits, it is impossible not to sympathise. 'There's no way we'll get caught,' they agree, but they believe this as much as the audience does. The title The Cage refers both to the security bars where Leanne works and the trap of their lives.
Barry Sloane stars as Gary Packer, a formidable casino proprietor and gangster who discovers employees are stealing from him, adding to the tension.
The Cage is a gripping drama that explores addiction, desperation, and the lengths people will go to survive.
