Clone (TV series)

Did You Know?

• The Evening Standard's reviewer Pete Clark pronounced Clone 'daft'.
• Gerard Gilbert in The Independent summarized the general consensus as 'The reviews so far have been enough to make you feel sorry for it.'

Story

Dr. Victor Blenkinsop, a brilliant scientist, creates a clone intended as a prototype super soldier to replace Britain's volunteer army. To his horror and disgust, the clone is not the fearsome weapon he envisioned; it is far more inclined to embrace an enemy than to fire a weapon. This modern-day Frankenstein and his gentle monster flee, searching for a neurological trigger that could unlock the clone's latent superhuman abilities. Their escape is complicated by Colonel Black and his elite security team, who are hunting them with orders to kill.

Cast

Colonel Black, played by Mark Gatiss, leads MI7, Britain’s most secret intelligence service. He is a ruthless antagonist obsessed with killing Victor Blenkinsop and the clone. Black wields unlimited authority and lacks any moral restraint. He orders executions simply because his subordinates fail to locate Blenkinsop or the clone. After a false lead causes the deaths of two innocent people, he feels no guilt. Later, he kills an operative who had just given him crucial information about the clone’s location.

Fiona Glascott portrays Rose Bourne, the 26-year-old Irish owner and bartender of The Peanut, a small pub in the tiny village of Bletherford. Rose is a shy, attractive redhead with a photographic memory and math skills at a savant level. She sees parallels between Victor’s selfish, sociopathic behavior and her own father’s. When Victor meets her, he recognizes that she could be the key to activating the clone’s dormant abilities, and he decides to take a piece of her brain.

Oliver Maltman plays Ian, Victor’s loyal lab assistant. A modern-day Igor, Ian is in awe of his boss and will do anything to help, including volunteering as a human test subject or enduring beatings from the Secret Intelligence Services. Like Victor, Ian has no social life, but his isolation comes from shyness rather than arrogance. He was once engaged, but his fiancée left him at the altar.

Stuart McLoughlin is the clone, also called Albert. He appears to be in his mid-twenties. Designed as a prototype super weapon, he emerges from his birthing tube more inclined to hug people than to harm them. The clone is an innocent, amazed by everything from chocolate to laughter and dancing. He is curious but lacks basic social skills. He has memory engrams meant to let him function as a soldier, but he cannot access them. Ian speculates these abilities might activate later.

Jonathan Pryce plays Dr. Victor Blenkinsop, a modern Dr. Frankenstein who created the first human clone. Victor has sacrificed his entire life to achieve a single goal: securing his place among the great names of science. He has been divorced three times and is willing to give up everything for the glory he craves. He can only succeed by fixing the clone and turning it into the super soldier it was meant to be.