In the Red (TV series)

In the Red is a three-part BBC Two black comedy-crime drama 1998 series featuring Warren Clarke as BBC Reporter George Cragge and Alun Armstrong as Police Superintendent Frank Jefferson, investigating a series of murders of London bank managers, a small political party contesting a by-election, and a plan to overthrow the Director-General of the BBC.

In the Red
Genre	Crime drama, black comedy
Created by	Malcolm Bradbury
Based on	In the Red by Mark Tavener
Starring	Alun Armstrong Victoria Carling Sally Phillips Warren Clarke David Ryall Richard Griffiths Rebecca Front Stephen Fry John Bird Reece Shearsmith Patrick O'Kane
Theme music composer	Slinkyhead
Composer	Jonathan Whitehead
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	1
No. of episodes	3
Production
Executive producer	Jon Plowman
Producer	Sarah Smith
Production locations	London, England, UK
Running time	57 minutes
Release
Original network	BBC Two
Picture format	14:9
Audio format	Stereo
Original release	26 May (1998-05-26) – 9 June 1998 (1998-06-09)
Chronology
Related shows	In the Red (1995) Absolute Power

The series was adapted by Malcolm Bradbury from Mark Tavener's novel of the same name (Hutchinson, 1989), which had been inspired by the writer's early experiences working for the BBC and the Liberal Party.[1]

Following the conclusion of the series, the characters of Charles Prentis, played by Stephen Fry, and Martin McCabe, played by John Bird, who also appeared in the radio adaptation of the book (BBC Two, 1995-1999), were featured in their own spin-off series Absolute Power (BBC Radio 4, 2000-2006/BBC Two, 2003-2005), which was also created and written by Tavener.