COBRA (British TV series)

A massive solar flare strikes Europe, blowing the electric grid and navigational systems, leaving much of Britain without power and creating social and political chaos. As a result, Prime Minister Robert Sutherland must decide how and where to distribute the limited relief generators. Meanwhile, after consuming cocaine and fentanyl provided by his daughter Ellie, Ellie's best friend dies. In order to avoid scandal and potentially prison, Ellie is encouraged to lie by Press Secretary Peter Mott and her mother, Rachel Sutherland, to say the dead friend brought the drugs.

The outage continues in Northumberland, leading to a vigilante force blockading access to the region, hijacking trucks of fuel and water, and calling for an overthrow of the government. Anna Marshall, Sutherland's Chief of Staff, is unexpectedly visited by an old flame from her days as a war correspondent and finds the passion still exists. Upon finding that he could be associated with a Serbian mobster, Marshall confides her liaison to Eleanor James, Head of the Joint Intelligence Committee, whose loyalties lie more with the Home Secretary than with the Prime Minister. Meanwhile, Home Secretary Archie Glover-Morgan works to unseat Sutherland by exploiting every possible angle, including the death of Ellie's friend and Marshall's indiscretion, to embarrass and discredit him.

Sutherland uses the British Army to break the Northumberland blockade by any means necessary, including the controversial decision to authorize deadly force, and a young photojournalist is killed. Condemning the handling of the crisis, Glover-Morgan orchestrates a vote of no confidence, then tries to bribe Sutherland into maneuvering staff into his favor in return for his support during the vote. But after delivering on a promise and successfully restoring power to a beleaguered hospital, series 1 ends with Sutherland calling for a general election, confident he will win.

• Robert Carlyle as Robert Sutherland, the Prime Minister and Leader of the Conservative Party
• Victoria Hamilton as Anna Marshall, the Downing Street Chief of Staff and a former war correspondent
• David Haig as Archie Glover-Morgan, the Home Secretary
• Richard Dormer as Fraser Walker, the Director of the Civil Contingencies Secretariat
• Lucy Cohu as Rachel Sutherland, a lawyer and wife of Robert Sutherland
• Marisa Abela as Ellie Sutherland, the daughter of Robert and Rachel
• Edward Bennett as Peter Mott, the Downing Street Press Secretary
• Marsha Thomason as Francine Bridge, a policy adviser and former Labour Party MP
• Steven Cree as Stuart Collier, the Chief Constable of Tyneside Police
• Angus Wright as General Rodney Pickering, Chief of Defence Staff
• Ellie Kendrick as Stephanie Lodge, a Civil Contingencies Secretariat officer
• Emmanuel Imani as James Odubajo, a Civil Contingencies Secretariat officer
• Lisa Palfrey as Eleanor James, Head of the Joint Intelligence Committee
• Charlie Carrick as Scott Minett (series 1), a former soldier and leader of the People's Justice Movement
• Con O'Neill as Harry Rowntree, the communist leader of the Lorry Drivers Union
• Alexandre Willaume as Edin Tosumbegovic, a Bosnian War survivor, hitman for a Serbian mobster and Marshall's lover

The Telegraph gave the first episode 3/5 stars and called it a gripping thriller, yet "implausible and clichéd".[7]

The Independent gave the series 2/5 stars, calling it a "(C)heap-looking series (which) creaks and clunks along", and the best parts are the breaks for commercials.[8]

Australia's TV Tonight said it "can’t quite settle on whether it’s a political thriller or a disaster mini-series. I’m reminded of Irwin Allen films, or even National Geographic’s American Blackout, with more satisfying results."[9]

• Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms, abbr. COBR, nicknamed Cobra
• List of fictional Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom

• Cobra at IMDb