Peter Mullan stars as Brighton crime boss turned entrepreneur Richie Beckett in Richard Cottan’s new four-part drama that chronicles the disintegration of a criminal mind. Airing on Channel 4 over four consecutive nights, The Fear also stars Harry Lloyd, Paul Nicholls, Anastasia Hille and Richard E Grant.

Episode 1
Monday 3 December 2012, 10pm

Erstwhile crime boss Richie Beckett (Mullan) is now a respected – if still feared – member of the Brighton business community. But recently something’s been unsettling him. He’s forgetful, irritable, unable to sleep. And to make matters worse, the less legit side of his enterprise, now run by his two sons, is under threat from a newcomer Marin (Dragos Bucur) and his Albanian family.

While his youngest son Matty (Lloyd) believes they can do business with them, his eldest son Cal (Nicholls) is intent on asserting the Beckett family’s power. When the dismembered head of a young prostitute Cal has slept with is found in Cal’s bed, the Beckett sons turn to their father to intercede. Marin’s gang has kept the girl’s body to implicate Cal in her murder – and so force Richie’s sons into line.

Richie wants peace, but the mark has been overstepped. He reluctantly agrees to meet them at their rundown farmhouse, where suddenly his erratic behaviour explodes in a violent attack on the ageing head of the family, Vajkal (Demosthenes Chrysan). With no going back, the two families are plunged into a turf war – a war which eerily reflects the conflict inside Richie’s head. As Richie’s dark past bleeds into the present, unresolved traumas that echo the chaos threaten to engulf him.

Episode 2
Tuesday 4 December 2012, 10pm

As the Becketts come under increasing pressure, Richie’s (Peter Mullan) mind deteriorates and he seeks help from former adversary and now respectable plastic surgeon Dr Seb Whiting (Richard E. Grant). Fearful of Richie’s reappearance in his life, Seb shares his concerns with Richie’s semi-estranged wife, Jo (Anastasia Hille).

For the sake of the family, Richie’s son Matty (Harry Lloyd) strikes a deal with Marin’s (Dragos Bucur) gang, but it’s Richie who must negotiate with the injured Vajkal (Demosthenes Chrysan). But traumatic memories are triggered during the meeting, leaving Richie in a delusional state. Continues tomorrow evening.

Episode 3
Wednesday 5 December 2012, 10pm

Richie is diagnosed with a virulent form of early onset dementia. Marin’s (Dragos Bucur) gang dump the body of the decapitated girl in order to implicate Cal (Paul Nicholls) in her killing, forcing Cal into hiding.

Richie’s vivid flashbacks of the mystery girl’s death prompt recollections of something that happened 40 years ago involving Jo (Anastasia Hille) and Seb (Richard E Grant). Cal exploits Richie’s deluded state to convince him to retaliate and right the wrongs of the past.

Episode 4
Thursday 6 December 2012, 10pm

Richie, having rescued a young woman from Vajkal’s (Demosthenes Chrysan) farmhouse, is on the run. Now in a state of full-blown dementia, his legacy collapses around him.

Pursued by the police and Marin’s gang, the Becketts are holed up in Cal’s (Paul Nicholls) fetid hideaway when Richie has a rare moment of clarity, but will it last long enough to save his family? In a gripping climax, the stories of the past and present come together as Richie finally uncovers the truth about the girl from his past.

Are you looking forward to The Fear? Let us know below…