Jericho (2016 TV series)

Jericho is a British period drama television series created and written by Steve Thompson; it was directed by Paul Whittington. The eight-part series premiered on ITV between 7 January and 25 February 2016. The series re-imagines the building of the Ribblehead Viaduct (renamed the Culverdale Viaduct) as a Western-inspired story. It is set in the fictional town of Jericho, a shanty town in the Yorkshire Dales of England, which springs up around the construction of a railway viaduct in the 1870s.

In April 2016 ITV confirmed that a second series of the show was not going to be commissioned. The series was available for streaming video in the USA on Acorn TV, beginning 11 July 2016.

Premise
The series focuses upon the shanty town of Jericho, home to a community that will live, thrive and die in the shadow of the viaduct they have been brought together to build.

Cast

 * Jessica Raine as Annie Quaintain, a widow with teenage children
 * Hans Matheson as Johnny Jackson, a navvy, later discovered to be John Blackwood
 * Clarke Peters as Ralph Coates, a railway agent
 * Mark Addy as Earl Bamford, a detective
 * Dean Andrews as ‘Happy’ Jack Laggan, a navvy gang leader
 * Lorraine Ashbourne as Lace Polly, a prostitute
 * Amy James-Kelly as Martha Quaintain, Annie's daughter
 * Samuel Bottomley as George Quaintain, Annie's son
 * Daniel Rigby as Charles Blackwood
 * Jeany Spark as Isabella Lambton
 * Phil Cornwell as Joe Capstick
 * Elliot Barnes-Worrell as Easter

Production
Scenes were shot around Huddersfield, specifically Golcar, at the Colne Valley Museum, and on the moors above Meltham and Marsden. The main setting for the shanty town was Rockingstone Quarry. Wharncliffe Chase above Oughtibridge, north Sheffield, was another shanty town set and nearby locations were used.

Reception
The series received mixed reviews from critics. The Guardian's Lucy Mangan, reviewing the first episode, remarked that the presentation was a bit too clean for the setting but praised the cast and ending. Jasper Rees of The Telegraph commended the ambition of the creators, but found the first episode's drama to be 'busy' and the genre confused. Andrew Billen of The Times gave it three stars being unimpressed by the show's characters. Thea Lenarduzzi of The Independent, on the other hand, found the first episode to be gripping and full of excitement.