The Cage on BBC One: Writer Tony Schumacher reveals real life tragedy and inspiration behind crime drama
He has created good characters doing bad things
The Cage is a quietly funny, heartwarming crime caper set within the world of a Liverpool casino with “two unforgettable characters at its heart”, but is the BBC One drama based on a true story?
BAFTA award-nominated Tony Schumacher wrote and created the new series. And if you loved his previous police drama The Responder, then you’ll love this.
The Beeb describe the five-parter as “a high-stakes, high-energy crime story” in which Sheridan Smith’s Leanne and Michael Socha’s Matty discover they are both stealing from the safe at the inner-city casino they work in. It binds them together, setting them on “a collision course” – with each other, the local gangster they’re stealing from, and the police.
But is The Cage on BBC One based on a true story, or purely fictional? Here’s everything you need to know.
Is BBC One crime drama The Cage based on a true story?
Tony Schumacher created and wrote BBC One’s The Cage, which comes four years after the success of his police drama The Responder. And like The Responder, his latest five-parter is based on his own real life experiences.
Although not a true story, the BBC One drama The Cage is inspired by Tony’s experiences before he was a writer. While a recent tragedy lent itself to the character of Matty. Screenwriter and sometime actor from Huyton, Tony worked as a police officer and taxi driver in nearby Liverpool before becoming an actor. He then broke from acting to concentrate on his writing career.
And we’re so glad he did. Tony Schumacher continues to use his own life and the people he has met as material for his TV shows.
Character of Matty inspired by real life tragedy
Writer Tony Schumacher recently admitted he took inspiration from his brother’s battles with alcoholism while writing his new BBC series, The Cage. The result is his portrayal of addict Matty.
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He told rts.org.uk: “My brother Phil was an alcoholic, so there are elements of him in Matty. He was in hospital for 12 weeks with a slow deterioration due to liver and kidney failure. Some of the stuff I was giving Michael to deal with was what I was dealing with myself at that time.”
Tragically, Tony’s older brother, who was five years older, died in the middle of filming last year. The writer admits he pours his worst fears into his writing: “I unscrew the top of my head and stick my pen in it every morning.”
Real life inspiration behind the five-part drama
Writer Tony revealed he’d “always wanted to do something in a casino” after a deep fascination began when he was younger.
He told us: “I used to work on cruise ships. It was a tough job, and it was a hard life in front of the mast selling underpants. The people who always looked glamorous on cruise ships were the people who worked in the casino.
“I’ve always been fascinated with casinos, and I’ve also got a thing where I’m terrified to gamble. I know I’d be a bad gambler, but I also know that there’s a little part of me that might fall into that hole. I feel like I’m getting the joy of playing with something that scares me a little bit.”
Speaking to the Radio Times, he added: “Everyone who worked in those casinos would gamble like mad the minute they weren’t working. They all had, and I can say this with a degree of certainty, a bad relationship with money, which fascinated me.”
It was the characters he’d met that inspired his latest drama The Cage. He explained: “Writing The Responder was intense. I felt like I’d done another five years in the police. Coming out of that, I wanted to do something that made me laugh and made me happy. One of the things I loved about The Responder was the characters who would make you smile in adversity. They were always the ones who really lifted my spirits when I was writing.
“So, to lean into Matty and Leanne as people who can’t help themselves, but they fight adversity and smile was the best part of it for me.”
Like The Cage, BBC One’s The Responder was also inspired by a true story
Tony also drew on his real life experiences for The Responder, which was based on true events Tony experienced in the line of duty. At the time, he said: “When I first joined the police, I remember an old bobby said to me ‘you will never knock on someone’s door and tell them they’ve won the lottery’.”
He added: “A responder is someone who never gives you good news; somebody who kicks in doors, races round town centres and who fights literal and sometimes metaphorical fires.
“You are only ever going to deliver bad news in this job. So it’s a big responsibility to take on but conversely, it’s incredibly exciting.”
Tony left the force in 2006 after, in his words, “cracking up”. He suffered a nervous breakdown and was diagnosed with PTSD, the result of cumulative incidents during his time on the beat. One of which involved the death of child. A breakdown followed, homelessness and even a suicide attempt. He subsequently turned to writing as an outlet following his breakdown.
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