2023 Nominees

The English

Drama Republic Limited, Eight Rooks Limited, Amazon Studios, BBC2, All3Media International

SPAIN, UK, USA

- Limited Series

Knotty themes have long been hallmarks of Hugo Blick’s work. Through the lens of the Western, he now turns his attention to the founding of contemporary USA. The English is set in the American West of 1890, on the cusp of the frontier’s closure. It tells the story of an English woman, Cornelia Locke (Emily Blunt) and a Pawnee ex-cavalry scout, Eli Whipp (Chaske Spencer). In very different ways but to equally devastating effect each have been stripped of their identities and united in unlikely circumstances, both then take the sudden opportunity to avenge themselves against their loss. Demonstrating a deep literacy with the genre, The English is stylised and angular filmmaking that both critiques and pays homage to the traditional western while imbuing it with a contemporary sensibility. Many westerns explore the themes of loss and reclamation. What is so unusual about The English is who it chooses for its heroes and the precise kind of justice both are looking to restore.