If you're planning on having a chilled Saturday night in at home this weekend and settling into the sofa, and wondering what to watch, then we have just the show for you. Colin Firth's excellent true crime inspired drama series The Staircase is landing on ITV1 at 9pm tomorrow night, and it's must-watch.
Originally airing in 2022, the eight-part series is a dramatised retelling of the true crime story of Michael Petersen (played by Firth), a writer and husband convicted of murdering his wife by pushing her down the stairs.
It's one of Colin Firth's best projects by far and this is everything you need to know about it.
What is The Staircase about?
The Staircase is an eight-part mini series which was originally released in 2022 on HBO and is based on a French crime docu-series of the same name.
In the series Michael Petersen is an author and politician, and on 9 December in 2001 he calls the police after finding his wife Kathleen dead and bleeding out on the floor at the bottom of the staircase. However, the police aren't so sure of Petersen's innocence and he becomes the subject of the investigation.
As the show progresses it covers various timelines before and after Kathleen's death, including showing us different family interactions of Michael and Kathleen's large extended family, parts of Michael's trial and his later release from prison.
When the show debuted it was largely praised by critics, with The Guardian giving it four stars and said "Firth and Collette are, as you might expect, brilliant. The former is slippery and arrogant, putting in a performance that teeters on so many brinks – deeply loving yet coercive with family, paralysed with grief yet sociopathically detached, self-indulgent yet narcissistic."
It also has a 92 per cent rating on Rotten Tomatoes and The Daily Mirror said it was "a fascinating portrait of grief and perspectives as well as an intriguing whodunit."
Who is in the cast of The Staircase?
Colin Firth leads the cast of The Staircase as main character Michael Peterson and playing his wife Kathleen is Toni Collette, best known for her roles in movies such as The Sixth Sense, Little Miss Sunshine, About A Boy, Muriel's Wedding and many more.
Here's who also stars in the A-List cast of The Staircase:
- Michael Stuhlbarg as David Rudolf, Michael's lawyer.
- Dane DeHaan as Clayton Peterson, Michael Peterson's oldest son from his first marriage.
- Olivia DeJone as Caitlin Atwater, Kathleen's daughter from her first marriage.
- Patrick Schwarzenegger as Todd Peterson, Michael's youngest son from his first marriage.
- Sophie Turner as Margaret Ratliff, Michael's adopted daughter, whom Michael adopted after her parents died.
- Odessa Young as Martha Ratliff, Margaret's younger sister and Michael's other adopted daughter.
- Rosemarie DeWitt as Candace, Kathleen's sister.
- Tim Guinee as Bill Peterson, Michael's brother.
- Parker Posey as Freda Black, the prosecutor on Michael's case.
Where can I watch The Staircase?
The Staircase previously aired on Sky Atlantic in the UK, however, tomorrow evening (25 July) it will air at 9pm on ITV1 and ITVX.
