Topic, the streaming home for international thrillers, mysteries, dramas, and documentaries, is offering a new venue to watch the ITV thriller series, Angela Black. Starring Downton Abbey alum Joanne Froggatt, the thriller follows the titular mother of two who is trapped in a relationship with her violent husband with dark secrets played by Game of Thrones actor Michiel Huisman. Collider can exclusively share a new trailer for the series ahead of its Topic premiere which demonstrates the duality of Angela's life—perfect on the outside, but a horror story behind closed doors.
The first shots of Huisman's Olivier make viewers believe he's the perfect husband. Their kids love him, he's a gracious host, and he's affectionate toward Angela. As soon as they're alone together, though, there's malice in his voice when speaking to her. The kindness is a front to hide his abuse of Angela, but there's something more sinister that he's hiding too. He hires private investigator Ed Harrison (Samuel Adewunmi) to follow Angela, though it backfires when Ed starts offering up information about Olivier including that he wants total custody of the kids. Murder seems to be on Olivier's resume as well. Not only is it hinted that he killed a woman, presumably a former partner, but he ordered Ed to dispose of Angela as well. Angela's only choice is to team up with Ed to bring Olivier down by any means necessary.
Coming off of playing a husband desperate to save his wife in Echo 3, Huisman is equal parts menacing and enigmatic in the footage as he's playing with Angela's head. Although Olivier's heinous acts are largely kept hidden, it's clear he's capable of truly awful things. Later clips imply that he may even be willing to harm his own children, much to the horror of Angela. It's all made to leave the imagination racing, playing into the disturbing mystery that unfolds as she tries to survive.
Angela Black Plays With the Imagination By Keeping Violence Off-Screen
The creative team behind Angela Black made a point not to show gratuitous violence against women on-screen in its portrayal of an abusive relationship. "We were trying to highlight a subject matter while, at the same time, providing a piece of entertainment, which is a very edge-of-your-seat thriller, but we also wanted to be very sensitive about how we handled that," Froggatt said of the depictions of abuse in a previous interview with Collider's own Christina Raddish. "As you say, the imagination can be even more brutal than the visual. I feel it was important to have that scene there for the audience to be able to have a very visceral experience in their own minds, of what Angela’s going through on a day-to-day basis, but it wasn’t ever anybody’s intention to make that what the show’s about."
Harry and Jack Williams created and helmed the series which premiered on October 10, 2021, on ITV in its native U.K. and earned strong reviews from critics. The duo is responsible for co-founding Two Brothers Pictures which produced acclaimed series like Fleabag, but after their thriller, they'd go on to pen another hit in The Tourist. Season 2 of the Jamie Dornan-led series recently began filming in Dublin as it looks to expand on its acclaimed first season.
Angela Black adds another intriguing series to Topic's growing catalog including exclusives like the Oscar-nominated short film The Letter Room starring Oscar Isaac and Lambs of God starring Ann Dowd as well as the BAFTA-nominated The Virtues with Stephen Graham and Emmy-nominated The Accidental Wolf starring Kelli O'Hara. The Williams brothers' series begins streaming with three episodes on Topic on Thursday, May 25. New episodes will follow weekly.
Check out the exclusive trailer below.