Filming Begins on ‘Taboo’ Starring Tom Hardy and Michael Kelly

Tom Hardy Smiling Photo
Tom Hardy at the Moet British Independent Film Awards (Photo by Ben A. Pruchnie / Getty Images for The Moet British Independent Film Awards)

BBC One and FX announced the start of filming on Taboo starring Tom Hardy (Legend, Mad Max: Fury Road). The eight episode dramatic series was created by Steven Knight and has Hardy’s Hardy Son & Baker production company producing along with Ridley Scott’s Scott Free London. Scott, Hardy, Knight, Dean Baker, and Kate Crowe are executive producing.


Tom Hardy and his father, Chips, came up with the original story and Kristoffer Nyholm (The Killing) is directing. Filming will be taking place in London.

The Taboo Plot and Cast:

Taboo will star Hardy as ‘James Keziah Delaney’ who returns to 1814 London after 10 years in Africa to discover that he has been left a mysterious legacy by his father. Driven to wage war on those who have wronged him, Delaney finds himself in a face-off against the East India Company, whilst playing a dangerous game between two warring nations – Britain and America.

Alongside Hardy’s protagonist ‘James Keziah Delaney’ is Michael Kelly who plays American doctor ‘Dumbarton,’ Jonathan Pryce as ‘Sir Stuart Strange,’ the head of the East India Company and Delaney’s nemesis; Oona Chaplin as ‘Zilpha Geary,’ James’ half-sister; and David Hayman as ‘Brace,’ Delaney’s trusted man-servant.

Jessie Buckley plays ‘Lorna Bow’ who lays claim to James’ father’s will. Ashley Walters is a dangerous face from James’ years in Africa. Jefferson Hall plays ‘Thorne Geary,’ Zilpha’s husband; Ed Hogg is ‘Godfrey,’ Delaney’s cross-dressing spy inside the East India Company; Leo Bill is ‘Wilton,’ Strange’s fashionable, amoral accomplice; Christopher Fairbank as ‘Ibbotson,’ a man to whom James is indebted; Richard Dixon is ‘Pettifer,’ Strange’s right hand man; Jason Watkins is ‘Solomon Coop,’ the Prince Regent’s right hand man and Spy Master; and Nicholas Woodeson is lawyer ‘Thoyt,’ the Delaney family’s former lawyer.