The Four Just Men (TV series)

Lore & Background

The series presents the adventures of four men who first meet while Allied soldiers in Italy during the Second World War, tasked with blowing up a bridge behind enemy lines. In England in 1959, they are contacted by telegram by their commanding officer, Colonel Cyril Bacon, to meet again. Bacon died a week before but left a recorded message and a will directing his money be used by the four men to fight for justice and against tyranny. They operate from different countries: Jeff Ryder is a professor of law at Columbia University in New York City, Tim Collier is an American reporter based in Paris, Ben Manfred is a crusading independent MP who works from London, and Ricco Poccari is an Italian hotelier based in Rome. Their reputation as the 'Four Just Men' is well known.

Reader's Guide

The Four Just Men was at the time the most ambitious film series yet made for British TV. It was produced at Walton Studios and on location in Britain, France, and Italy. None of its four stars had previously been cast as regulars in a television series; only Dan Dailey would go on to play another regular role on series television in The Governor & J.J. The series is unusual in having the four main actors appear alternately (except in the first episode); one or occasionally two makes a brief appearance in each other's episode, often using a telephone. This rolling format was later borrowed by other US drama series particularly in the 1960s such as The Rogues (1964-5) and The Name of the Game (1968-1971). Filming of the 39 episodes, each 25 minutes long, began during January 1959 and lasted for five months, using up to seven units in the studio or on location, and producing two or three episodes simultaneously. John Schlesinger was credited as exterior unit or second unit director on a number of episodes. Network released the 39 episodes on August 13, 2010 in a five-DVD Region 2 set.

Did You Know?

• Each of the four main actors appeared alternately; only in the first episode did all four appear together.
• Guest stars included Judi Dench, Alan Bates, and Donald Pleasence.
• Frank Thornton appeared in more roles than anyone else in the series.

Story & Principal Cast

The drama centers on a young couple navigating the devastating experience of pregnancy loss, a subject that Golaszewski tackles with both raw emotional honesty and unexpected moments of levity. The core of the narrative is carried by Paapa Essiedu as Stephen and Siobhán Cullen as Lisa, the couple at the heart of the story. Their world is further populated by Charlotte Riley as Amanda and Jack Bannon as Dave, who serve as key supporting figures in the couple's orbit. Rounding out the principal cast are Gary Beadle in the role of Kevin and Nadine Marshall as Patty, adding further layers to the interpersonal dynamics explored across the six episodes. Golaszewski, who both wrote and directed the series, crafted a tightly focused ensemble piece that refuses to let the audience look away, weaving together grief, humor, and the fragile architecture of a relationship under extreme pressure. The show's structure as a limited six-part run allows the story to build intensity without overstaying its welcome, though as reviews would later note, that brevity is where the series' strengths and weaknesses both reside.

Production & Creative Team

The project came to life after the BBC commissioned the series in November 2024, with Golaszewski serving as both writer and director — a dual role that gave the show a singular creative vision from script to screen. Production was a collaboration between Snowed-In Productions and The Money Men Studios, with a slate of executive producers that included Golaszewski himself alongside Ruth Kenley-Letts representing Snowed-In, Neil Blair and Richard Laxton, and Danielle Scott-Haughton on behalf of the BBC. Day-to-day production fell to Lyndsay Robinson and Kelly Duffell. Principal photography was a relatively compact affair, with filming carried out across two Hertfordshire locations — Abbots Langley and Watford — during February 2025. This concentrated shooting schedule in a single county suggests a deliberately contained, intimate production design, one that mirrors the claustrophobic emotional landscape of the story itself. The fact that the entire principal cast was locked in at the commissioning stage in late 2024, with filming following just a few months later in early 2025, points to a streamlined development pipeline that moved quickly from greenlight to camera.

Broadcast & Audience Access

Babies hit BBC One screens on 30 March 2026, marking the culmination of a development-to-broadcast journey that spanned roughly sixteen months from the initial commission. As a six-part limited series, the show was designed as a finite narrative arc rather than an ongoing weekly commitment, giving viewers a complete story in a single sitting or over a short viewing window. In line with the BBC's dual-platform strategy, every episode was simultaneously made available for streaming on BBC iPlayer, ensuring that audiences who preferred to watch at their own pace or who might have missed the live broadcast could access the full run without delay. This simultaneous availability on both linear television and on-demand streaming reflects the network's broader approach to limited dramas in the mid-2020s, where the traditional weekly appointment viewing model has given way to more flexible consumption patterns. The March 2026 premiere slot placed the series in the spring programming window, a period when BBC One typically schedules its most ambitious single-screen dramas. The pairing of a broadcast premiere with immediate iPlayer access meant that Babies could generate both the communal water-cooler conversation of a live TV event and the sustained online discussion that streaming availability tends to foster over the following days and weeks.

Critical Response & Legacy

The critical reception of Babies was overwhelmingly positive, though not without notable reservations. Sarah Dempster of The Guardian awarded the series a perfect five stars, characterizing it as an unsettling, funny, moving, and emotionally devastating triumph of television. Her colleague Rachel Aroesti in the same paper called the show beautiful and singled out its theme song, Volcano, describing it as a sweet, disenchantment-steeped indie ballad that channels the spirit of both Billy Bragg and Kate Nash — a track performed by Golaszewski himself, adding another layer to his hands-on creative involvement. Barbara Ellen writing for The Observer offered a more nuanced take, acknowledging the programme as powerful and beautifully acted while also noting it felt far too long and intense for comfort. She particularly praised Cullen's portrayal of a woman atomising before the viewer's very eyes. James Hibbs of the Radio Times gave four stars, commending the relatability of the writing and the strength of the central performances, yet observed that the narrative begins to lose coherence in its final two episodes. Collectively, the reviews paint a picture of a bold, emotionally demanding drama that divided audiences primarily on pacing and structure rather than on its core dramatic merit.

Gallery