Episode one of FX’s new dramatic series Taboo, which premiered on January 10, 2017, ranked fourth with adult viewers 18-49 among new cable dramas for the past year. The series also premiered as the most time-shifted FX drama to date, with 3.43 million viewers checking out the gritty drama set in the 1800s and starring Tom Hardy, Oona Chaplin, and Jonathan Pryce. In addition, Taboo‘s first episode placed first among basic cable programs with the 18-54 adult audience.
Tom Hardy and Chips Hardy created the series with writer Steven Knight. (Knight and Tom Hardy previously worked together on Locke and Peaky Blinders.) Ridley Scott, Kate Crowe, Tom Hardy, Dean Baker, and Steven Knight executive produce. Kristoffer Nyholm (The Enfield Haunting) directed episodes one through four and Anders Engström (Thicker Than Water) directed episodes five through eight.
The cast of Taboo also includes Stephen Graham, Michael Kelly, Jessie Buckley, David Hayman, Tom Hollander, Jason Watkins, Franka Potente, Jefferson Hall, Ed Hogg, Leo Bill, Christopher Fairbank, Richard Dixon, Mark Gatiss, Nicholas Woodeson, Lucian Msamati, and Robert Parker.
The Plot: Set in 1814, Taboo follows James Keziah Delaney (Hardy), a man who has been to the ends of the earth and comes back irrevocably changed. Believed to be long dead, he returns home to London from Africa to inherit what is left of his father’s shipping empire and rebuild a life for himself. But his father’s legacy is a poisoned chalice, and with enemies lurking in every dark corner, James must navigate increasingly complex territories to avoid his own death sentence. Encircled by conspiracy, murder and betrayal, a dark family mystery unfolds in a combustible tale of love and treachery.
