Misfits is a British science fiction drama television show about a group of young offenders sentenced to work in a community service programme, where they obtain supernatural powers after a strange electrical storm. The first series started broadcasting on 12 November 2009 on E4, and was produced by Clerkenwell Films. The show aired in Australia in 2010 on ABC2, and in New Zealand, it screens on FOUR, where its third season is currently running. In June 2011, it was made available online in the United States via Hulu,^[1] where it became one of the service's most-watched series.^[2]

Recording for the second series began on 24 May 2010, next to Southmere Lake, Thamesmead, Bexley, Southeast London.^[3] The second series aired from 11 November 2010 to 16 December 2010 on E4. A Christmas special, written by Howard Overman, featuring the whole main cast of the first series was broadcast on E4 in December 2010.^[4][5] The first series won the 2010 BAFTA Television Award for Best Drama Series.^[6] The third series began airing on 30 October 2011,^[7] and ended on 18 December 2011. The show has since been renewed for a fourth series expected to premiere during late 2012.

Misfits focuses on five young offenders who are on community service who gain special abilities after being involved in a storm. Robert Sheehan, Iwan Rheon, Lauren Socha, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett and Antonia Thomas are introduced as Nathan Young, Simon Bellamy, Kelly Bailey, Curtis Donovan and Alisha Bailey respectively. Sheehan left the series after the second series, being replaced by Joe Gilgun as Rudy Wade. After the third series it was announced Rheon, Thomas and Socha had left their roles and would be replaced by new characters.

Production[link]

Filming locations[link]

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Southmere community centre is used as a filming location for Misfits.

The show is filmed in South East London, mostly on location around the Southmere Lake in Thamesmead, including the trademark shot of the four multi-storey buildings from the roof of the Lakeside Centre. Many interiors were filmed in sets built in the old Runnymede campus of Brunel University. The scenes under the flyover are in Boston Manor Park in Brentford, London. The bar in the second and third series was not located in South Street, Brunel; it was a set built specifically for the show.

Marketing[link]

The first series was accompanied by an online viral marketing campaign produced by Six to Start, on social networking websites such as Facebook and Twitter. For example, in a British first, the characters Simon and Kelly tweeted during the initial transmission of each episode, with the content of the tweets provided by writers Sam Liefer and Ben Edwards, under the direction of lead writer Howard Overman and executive producer Petra Fried. These tweets and other website postings provided additional narrative material, and amongst other things did not ultimately reveal the identity of a key character who appeared only in episode six. Since then other characters have appeared, such as Rudy Wade and Alisha Bailey, as well as a fan-based "observer" character named "That Guy".^[8][9] Additional strategic components included direct-to-YouTube video clips and an online game based on the show.^[8]

US Version[link]

On 7 March 2012, it was announced that, in a deal between Clerkenwell Films and Fake Empire, Josh Schwartz (Gossip Girl, The OC) has co-written an American pilot of Misfits with Howard Overman. Production is anticipated in 2012/early 2013.^{[citation needed]}

Cast[link]

Episodes[link]

The first series comprised six episodes, airing from 12 November to 17 December 2009 on E4. The second series started filming in May 2010^[12] and aired on E4 from 11 November to 16 December 2010. This series had seven episodes, including a Christmas episode.

An exclusive short film, "Vegas Baby!"', premiered on E4's official website on 15 September 2011, focusing on Nathan's departure.^[13] The third series began airing on 30 October 2011 on E4. It introduced new character Rudy (Joe Gilgun) and was eight episodes long. Unlike the first two seasons, Howard Overman did not write all the episodes, instead writing six of the eight with Jon Brown writing the other two.^{[citation needed]}

Plot overview[link]

Series One (2009)[link]

Misfits follows five young delinquents on community service who are caught outside during a supernatural thunder storm and who acquire special abilities. Initially, the show focused on five young adults. Kelly Bailey (Lauren Socha) gains the ability of Telepathy, Curtis Donovan (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett) can rewind time after experiencing an immense sense of regret, Alisha Bailey (Antonia Thomas) sends people into a sexual frenzy when they touch her skin and Simon Bellamy (Iwan Rheon) can become invisible. Nathan Young (Robert Sheehan) appears unchanged.

The group are attacked by their probation officer, Tony, who acquired strange powers in the electrical storm, and is accidentally killed by Kelly in self defence. The main plot of the first series is the five trying to stop anyone else finding out about the murder. Tony's replacement Sally is revealed to be Tony's fiancee, and she suspects that the gang know more than they claim to. Sally's suspicion grows and she forms a relationship with Simon, secretly pretending to like him in order to get information from him about Tony's disappearance. She steals his mobile phone, which has the video of Nathan saying they killed Tony, sees it, and tries to convince Simon to go to the police. When she tries to get away, Simon turns invisible, intentionally unnerves her while doing so, and then accidentally kills her in the struggle for his mobile. Other subplots of the series involve Nathan living in the community center after his mother kicks him out of her house, Alisha and Curtis becoming involved in a relationship, Curtis accidentally changing time so he never split up from his ex-girlfriend Sam, Nathan trying to figure out what his power could possibly be, and Simon's sense of loneliness and isolation from the rest of the group. Each episode also follows its own self-contained plot, including the first series' finale in which a cult-like group begins to brainwash youths into adopting ultra-conservative behavior. The episode ends with Nathan's death after a struggle with Rachel, the cult's leader. As his friends mourn, Nathan's power is finally revealed to be immortality as he awakens unharmed in his coffin.

Series Two (2010)[link]

In the second series, as the gang are approaching the end of their community service, they are stalked by a mysterious masked man who had previously saved Nathan from the Virtue cult. He assists them through dangerous situations and is seemingly aware of events that take place before they happen; he saves members of the group on multiple occasions such as saving Curtis from being strangled to death by a shapeshifter, saving Nathan from a car explosion when taking drugs makes him temporarily mortal, and saving Alisha from a mugger. When Alisha is attacked a second time, she falls down a flight of stairs and is taken back to the masked man's safe house. It is revealed that he is a time-travelling, future Simon, whom Alisha falls in love with and learns she is to fall in love with the 'present' Simon. Future Simon warns of an unspecified, upcoming crisis and shows that the superpowers will soon become public knowledge – which eventually occurs, only for that timeline to be erased. Future Simon sacrifices himself to save Alisha, prompting Alisha to reveal the truth to present Simon. Throughout the series, sub-plots include Nathan discovering his immortality extends to mediumship, Nathan and Kelly's abortive attempt at a relationship, Curtis and Alisha breaking up, Simon slowly becoming more assertive and comfortable with himself, and Curtis starting a relationship with a girl named Nikki, who obtained her teleportation power from the heart transplant of a guy named Ollie, who originally had the power.

Three months later, the Misfits give up their powers by selling them to Seth, a former drug dealer with the ability to transfer powers from one person to another. Elliot, a disillusioned priest, purchases several powers from the same dealer including Alisha's and Nikki's, and uses them to pose as a reborn Jesus Christ. While the Misfits are celebrating the fact that they are free from their powers, a follower of "Jesus" holds up the bar where Curtis and Alisha are now working, robs them, and kills Nikki. The Misfits steal the money that Elliot has gathered from his followers so they can purchase their powers back, accidentally killing him while doing so. The Misfits use the money to buy new powers from Seth, with Kelly being the first to volunteer.

Series Three (2011)[link]

Simon, Kelly, Alisha and Curtis acquired new powers following their encounter with Seth; Simon can glimpse into the future, Kelly has complete knowledge of rocket science and mechanical systems, Alisha has a form of clairvoyance which allows her to see what other people are doing and Curtis can change into a woman at will. Nathan is absent, having gone to Las Vegas in the hope that his new ability of magic will make him a millionaire. A young man on community service named Rudy, with the ability to create a duplicate of himself, meets the gang when he upsets a woman, causing her to use her power to freeze time in order to wreak havoc on Rudy. Rudy's actions accidentally put Simon, Kelly, Alisha and Curtis back into community service. Major subplots include Simon and Alisha's relationship, Simon's progressive transformation into his 'future self', Rudy's womanising and philandering, Curtis's experimentation as a female and Kelly's infatuation and eventual relationship with Seth.

Seth, back when he was a drug dealer, gave a product to his girlfriend who subsequently died of an overdose, an event for which Seth holds himself responsible. After much searching, Seth acquires a power of resurrection, giving it to Curtis in exchange for Curtis's gender-change power, after Curtis accidentally impregnated himself. Curtis uses his power to resurrect Seth's ex-girlfriend, Shannon. Seth breaks up with Kelly and returns to Shannon but quickly realizes that anyone resurrected has an all-encompassing desire for blood, essentially rendering them a zombie. Seth and the gang manage to defeat Shannon and the others affected by the contagion, resulting in Seth giving up being a 'power dealer', returning to Kelly and joining the Misfits.

A medium uses his power to inadvertently bring the spirits of Tony, Sally and Rachel back to 'haunt' the Misfits, with the spirits unable to move on due to 'unfinished business'. Sally and Tony return after they reconcile, but Rachel's attempts to fit in with the culture that she despised, including swearing, drinking, trying drugs and having sex, prove ineffective. She comes to the realization that she is back for revenge, slicing Alisha's throat with a Stanley knife and moving on. Alisha dies in Simon's arms. After Alisha's death, Seth helps Simon go back in time, allowing Simon to help the Misfits in the past, resulting in Simon's eventual death in Alisha's arms in the past.

Series Four (2012)[link]

On 16 December 2011, Digital Spy revealed that the show was renewed for a fourth series.^[14] A few days later, it was revealed that series stars Antonia Thomas and Iwan Rheon would not be returning in the fourth series.^[15][16]

On 1 March 2012, Den of Geek stated that three new characters will be coming to Misfits for the fourth season. A casting call went out for: "... Jess is a kind of female version of Larry David – smart and articulate, She’s the person who will say the un-sayable, the person who’ll question social norms and etiquette. Jess hates people who bullshit and lie to her. ... Finn has a childlike naively optimistic view of life, he’s always eager to please and enthusiastic about life. Finn talks a lot and often uses this to try and talk himself out of difficult or awkward situations. He is very funny. ... Alex is the sexiest guy on the estate. He is super good looking, all the girls fancy him but for some reason he is very standoffish, he doesn’t seem interested in girls. Everyone reads this as being extremely suspicious and suspect it’s power related."

On 2 May 2012, Lauren Socha who plays Kelly, was sentenced to a four month jail term, suspended for one year after she admitted to racially aggravated assault against a taxi driver in 2011. Like her on screen character she must also carry out 80 hours of community service.^[17] The following day on 3 May 2012, Channel 4 announced that Lauren would not be returning to series 4 of Misfits, but this was by mutual decision before the series went into production and had nothing to do with her recent conviction.^[18]

On 16 May 2012, ScreenTerrier announced that 23 year-old Actress Karla Crome (who will soon star in Sky1's new drama, Hit and Miss) stars as Jess and that Nathan McMullen will join the cast as Finn. They also confirmed that the show is currently in production and that Nathan Stewart-Jarrett and Joseph Gilgun's characters will return for series 4 which is set to air late in 2012. As well as this, they stated that Nirpal Bhogal (who recently directed Bristish Urban film, Sket) will be directing the show's fourth series.^[19]

Reception[link]

Critical response[link]

British reviews have been very positive. The Times gave it four out of five stars, calling it "a new union — salty British street humour with whizz-bang special effects" which should "keep E4's core audience happy".^[20] An online review by The Guardian said that it was "confident enough to operate in its own universe and set up something new" and that it was aimed at showing us "real people" rather than the stereotype of the "ASBO teenager".^[21] The Guardian's print reviewer was also enthusiastic, saying: "Misfits is indeed silly — sillier, even, than it sounds — but it's also brilliant: sharp, funny, dark and, in places, quite chilling. Both the writing and the performances ensure that everything but the preposterous central premise remains entirely believable."^[22] The Daily Telegraph drew special attention to Howard Overman's script which, it said, "sparkled from the off, introducing his posse of social outcasts as a bunch of total losers, but each one distinctively and memorably so."^[23]

The Irish media have also been impressed with the show. The Evening Herald called the debut episode "dark, hilarious, exciting and beautifully produced". It went on to say that "the spark comes from Overman's razor-sharp script, yet a lot of the credit also has to go to the well-chosen young cast, who are uniformly superb."^[24]

Television ratings[link]

Series 1^[25]
The first series averaged 707,500 viewers per episode.

Series 2
The second series averaged 1,453,000 viewers per episode – more than twice up from the first series.

Series 3

Awards[link]

Both the series and its writer Howard Overman were nominated for RTS Awards in March 2010.^[26] The series won the 2010 BAFTA Television Award for Best Drama Series.^[6] Lauren Socha has won "Best Supporting Actress" for her part as Kelly. The show was also nominated for "Best Comedy Drama" at the British Comedy Awards in 2011, but lost to Psychoville.

References[link]