Today's TV Highlights
Drama series: Tyrant
Written by Shows Editor from the blog Today's TV Highlights on 23 Oct 2017
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Tyrant is a drama series which tells the story of an unassuming American family drawn into the inner workings of a turbulent Middle Eastern nation.
Bassam "Barry" Al-Fayeed (Adam Rayner), the youngest son of a war-torn country's controversial dictator, returns to his homeland after a self-imposed 20-year exile in America for his nephew's wedding. Upon his return, Barry is immediately thrown back into the familial and national politics of his youth.
He braces himself to confront the stark realities of his father and older brother Jamal's (Ashraf Barhom) harsh rule, and finds himself at odds with Jamal's wife, Leila (Moran Atias), who strongly believes in a firm, unforgiving regime.
Although his wife, Molly (Jennifer Finnigan), struggles to comprehend her husband's apprehension, Barry is unable and unwilling to make his all-American family understand his unease over returning home.
Emma (Anne Winters), their 17-year-old daughter, adores her father and shares his disdain for the extravagances of her extended family. Meanwhile, their son, 16-year-old Sammy (Noah Silver), revels in the lavish lifestyle their "royal" status brings, but dangerously tests cultural divides with his poorly disguised interest in handsome family bodyguard Abdul (Mehdi Dehbi).
Barry's only warm memory of his childhood, boyhood friend Fauzi (Fares Fares), wants nothing to do with him. Fauzi is now a journalist, whose reports on the abuses of the Al-Fayeed rule resulted in his arrest and torture.
Barry must now confront the life he once fled. With his father's health in decline, everyone – Jamal, their mother Amira (Alice Krige), their father's top advisor Yussef (Salim Daw), and even easygoing U.S. diplomat John Tucker (Justin Kirk) – expects him to assume a more active role in both the family and the regime.
Barry's reluctant homecoming leads to a dramatic clash of cultures as he is thrown back into the familial and national politics of his youth.
The cast includes Adam Rayner, Jennifer Finnigan, Ashraf Barhom, Moran Atias, Noah Silver, Anne Winters, Fares Fares, Salim Daw, Justin Kirk, Jordana Spiro, Mehdi Dehbi, and Alice Krige.
CHANNEL eExtra (OpenView HD 105 / DStv 195)
PREMIERE 23 October 2017
TIMESLOT Mondays, 21h30
REPEATS Tuesdays, 00h00
Actors in this post: Adam Rayner, Moran Atias, Jennifer Finnigan, Noah Silver, Alice Krige, Justin Kirk
Shows in this post: Tyrant
Channels in this post: eExtra
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