Channel 4’s Screw Sets Cast

Nina Sosanya, Jamie-Lee O’Donnell, Stephen Wight, Faraz Ayub, Ron Donachie and Laura Checkley have all joined the cast of Screw, a new drama produced by STV Studios for Channel 4.

The six-part series by BAFTA-nominated writer Rob Williams (The Victim, Killing Eve) explores the uncensored, shocking and often darkly funny reality of life as a prison officer in an all-male prison in 21st-century Britain. Banijay Rights will manage global distribution for the series.

Among the “screws” the series follows is Leigh (Sosanya), a woman who has devoted her entire adult life to this prison and its population—but who has her own secrets that if discovered could cost her more than her job. There’s also Rose (O’Donnell), a 21-year-old trainee officer, Ali (Ayub), Gary (Wight), Don (Donachie) and Jackie (Checkley).

Caroline Hollick, Channel 4 head of drama, said: “Screw offers the audience an insight into the challenges and struggles faced behind bars for both prisoners and officers; told with humor, humanity and hope. I’m so excited for our brilliant, distinctive cast, led by the superlative Nina Sosanya, and I hope Jamie-Lee O’Donnell’s dramatic new role will her see fast becoming an iconic face of Channel 4.”

Sarah Brown, STV Studios’ creative director of drama, added: “We are incredibly excited about the extraordinary group of actors we’ve assembled for Screw. Rob Williams’s compelling, hilarious and thought-provoking scripts couldn’t be in better hands; we can’t wait to see audiences falling in love with our brilliant prison officer ‘family’.”