Bodies is a murder thriller on Netflix that has the potential for so many twists as it follows the investigations of four different detectives through four vastly different eras, yet there's only one body!
Based on the mind-bending graphic novel Bodies by Si Spencer, this adaptation by Moonage Pictures is a police procedural with a big time-travel twist. There's an all-star cast too led by Stephen Graham alongside Jacob Fortune-Lloyd, Shira Haas, Amaka Okafor and Kyle Soller.
Paul Tomalin, lead writer and creator of Bodies, says of the concept: "The phrase bandied around by all of us at the time was ‘mind-bending’ but I’m going to go for ‘mind-snapping’, a full on lobotomy. It’s a police-procedural show that shifts and transforms from moment to moment so you never know what’s coming next."
So here's everything you need to know about the new time-twister Netflix series Bodies...
Bodies release date
Bodies is an eight-part thriller series that launches worldwide on Netflix on Thursday October 19 2023.
Is there a trailer for Bodies?
Yes both an official and teaser trailer for Bodies have now been released by Netflix which shows what an intricate murder investigation is involved across multiple timelines. Take a look at both below...
What is the plot of Bodies?
Bodies is a mind-bending murder thriller that's could be described as a mix of Vienna Blood, Line of Duty and The Lazarus Project. This police crime drama is set across four different timelines. When a body — the same body of a man — is found on Longharvest Lane in London's East End in 1890, 1941, 2023 and 2053, a detective from each of those time periods investigates. Connections are made across the decades and somehow the detectives discover their investigations are linked.
A mysterious political leader called Elias Mannix (Stephen Graham) seems to be pivotal. Could Mannix have played a big part in the murder? What sinister events are at play? To solve the mystery, the four detectives from different eras — Hassan, Hillingwood, Whiteman and Maplewood — must somehow collaborate and uncover a conspiracy spanning 153 years.
Paul Tomalin says "The fun for the audience is being the all-seeing-eye over the four timelines in a way the characters aren’t aware of. The joy in writing it is seeing how the audience will then put things together, sometimes ahead of the characters, but also sometimes there’ll be behind. It’ll be a trip."
* Meet the Bodies cast: who's who in the Netflix time-twisting crime drama
Bodies episode guide and recaps
Here's our guide to the Bodies episodes. Click on the link to each (there are spoilers so don't click if you'd rather not know). We'll be adding to so do check back...
* Bodies episode 1 recap: one body, four different time zones
* Bodies episode 2 recap: meet Elias Mannix, and then meet him again
* Bodies episode 3 recap: blackmail, seances and interrogations
* Bodies episode 4 recap: family secrets and the secrets of time travel
* Bodies episode 5 recap: the grand time travel plan is laid bare
* Bodies episode 6 recap: the pieces fall into place — as do the bodies
* Bodies episode 7 recap: our 4 detectives become 2, and the Mannix family begins
* Bodies ending explained and episode 8 recap: Maplewood's surprise and Mannix disappears
Bodies cast — Stephen Graham as Elias Mannix
The Bodies cast sees Stephen Graham (Time, Boiling Point) playing the central figure of Elias Mannix (see main first look picture above) who seems to tie events together.
"He's the leader of a twister utopian society," Stephen Graham revealed when we were shown a preview clip at a Netflix event earlier in 2023.
"It’s so suspenseful, you don't know what will happen next! Mannix was abandoned as a child, then became part of a cult and the architect of a twisted, utopian society. It sounds mad, but it’s a beautiful madness!"
Stephen previously starred in the movie This is England in 2006 then its subsequent TV sequels on Channel 4. In the US he's probably most famous for playing Al Capone in the hit US gangster series Boardwalk Empire. He also received critical acclaim for his roles as DS John Corbett in Line Of Duty season 5 and ITV's true-crime drama Little Boy Blue
Who else is starring in Bodies
The four detectives in Bodies are played by Kyle Soller (Poldark) as DI Hillinghead in 1890, Jacob Fortune-Lloyd (Midas Man) as DS Charles Whiteman in 1941 who is a bit of a lone wolf, Amaka Okafor as DS Hassan in present day 2023 and Shira Haas as DC Maplewood from 2053.
Other cast in Bodies includes Will Merrick, Derek Riddell and Synnove Karlsen.
"I love that the show breaks so many rules, plus each time period is filmed in a different style," says The Split star Amaka. "For 2023, we were told to think of horror and suspense. But it’s a mystery, it’s noir, it’s action-packed and it’s a thriller!?
Kyle Soller says: "This is just something you've never seen before. It is a multidimensional, multi-time-warped, amazing story about four different detectives across four different time periods, spanning from the 1890s to 2050s, who are all investigating the same murder. The same dead body keeps showing up and they uncover a web of conspiracy and lies. It is going to blow people's minds."
Shira Haas adds: "Bodies has crime, drama, comedy, thriller and action elements altogether in one piece. Even in one single episode you have all these genres and all these feelings, kind of at the same time. So that's what I felt when I read it, that's what I felt when we were filming it and I hope that's what the audience will feel as well. As for the plot, a dead body turns up in Whitechapel in London – shot in the eye, naked, with no exit wound and no bullet – in four different timelines. Different detectives in those different timelines become fascinated and even slightly obsessed with this person as they try to understand what his story is."
The different eras in Bodies and more on the plot
2023
Episode one opens in present-day London, where DS Shahara Hasan (Amaka Okafor) is attempting to keep the peace during a protest when she spies a suspicious-looking teen and believes he might be armed.
Following a chase through the city’s backstreets, she finds him standing over a naked, motionless body in an alleyway before he escapes. Determined to help the young fugitive by bringing him in safely, Hasan goes the extra mile, but could she end up putting herself – as well as hundreds of thousands of lives – at risk?
‘Hasan is a single mum who lives with her dad, but she’s got herself into trouble in the past by going out on a limb because she believes in someone,’ says The Split star Okafor. ‘We meet her at a point where she’s been told to rein that in, especially as she’s a woman of colour and Muslim, so she’s already bearing the brunt of prejudice.
‘But what I love about the show is that it breaks so many rules, plus each time period is filmed in a different style and has its own vibe,’ says Okafor. ‘For the 2023 scenes, the director [The Lazarus Project’s Marco Kreuzpaintner] told us to think of horror and suspense. But it’s also a mystery, it’s noir, it’s action-packed and it’s a thriller.’
1890
Created by Torchwood and No Offence writer Paul Tomalin, the drama also follows overachieving DI Alfred Hillinghead (Kyle Soller), who discovers the body in 1890 Whitechapel, where Jack the Ripper is still at large and fear fills the streets.
First on the scene, though, is charming local journalist Henry Ashe (George Parker), who raises Hillinghead’s suspicions when he’s found taking photographs. But when the detective finds himself strangely intrigued by Henry, he realises his investigation could reveal his own deeply dormant secrets.
‘Hillinghead is incredibly demanding of himself and those around him,’ says Andor and Poldark star Soller, 40. ‘He’s got high standards, is extremely precise and has a really intelligent eye. He’s a very skilled detective and can think like a criminal, but detective work was a relatively new profession then, so they were figuring out what they were and how they could be of use.
‘Hillinghead is a good family man, too. But he’s not being true to his nature because he’s a closeted homosexual, and when he meets Henry, it’s pure love,’ Soller explains. ‘It’s been amazing to delve into the story of a closeted, married Victorian male.’
1941
Meanwhile, in 1941, dapper-but-unscrupulous cop Charles Whiteman (The Queen’s Gambit star Jacob Fortune-Lloyd) risks his double life being exposed when he finds the body in Blitz-ravaged London.
2053
Then, in 2053, brooding DS Iris Maplewood (Unorthodox star Shira Haas) makes a similar grisly discovery in a post-apocalyptic city still reeling from a disaster 30 years earlier.
All four detectives are baffled by the unidentifiable male, but as their parallel investigations begin to converge, they reveal a sinister conspiracy spanning more than 160 years that threatens the UK. Aall clues lead to enigmatic political figure Elias Mannix (Stephen Graham). How is he connected to the murder?
‘It’s tricky to talk about the plot and my character’s journey as there’s a lot there,’ says Boiling Point and Time star Graham, 50. ‘It’s so suspenseful, you don't really know what’s going on, or what’s going to happen next.
‘Mannix was abandoned as a child and left to fend for himself in the cruel world that he grew up in. He was taken in by a family and showed some kind of an understanding of what it is to be loved,’ Graham explains.
‘But then he becomes part of a cult and the architect of a twisted, utopian society. It sounds mad, doesn’t it? But it’s a beautiful madness!’
Behind the scenes, locations and more on Bodies
Moonage Pictures is behind Bodies while the creator is Paul Tomalin who's also co-written the Bodies script with Danusia Samal. Lead director is Marco Kreuzpaintner, while further episodes are directed by Haolu Wang. The executive producers are Will Gould, Frith Tiplady, Paul Tomalin and Marco Kreuzpaintner and the series producer is Susie Liggat.
Much of the location filming took place around Leeds and other parts of Yorkshire. "The whole show is set in Whitechapel, London," says Susie Liggat "It’s an essential part of its DNA, but having relatively recently made Giri/Haji, I know how difficult and expensive it is to film in London. Also most of historic Whitechapel got flattened in World War Two, so we made a patchwork of locations in the North that served our story beautifully. Big shout outs to Grimsby Docks and Wentworth Woodhouse!"
