Night Riders

Fast & Furious Meets Fantasy In Street-racing Show Curfew…

- Stephen Kelly

To visit the set of Sky One’s dystopian racing drama Curfew is to visit a garage of dreams... and nightmares. In one corner: a sleek Jaguar XJS, white with a green stripe down the middle, with iron mesh armour covering the windows. In another: a regular London ambulance, fortified with spikes and electrified shields. Also on view: an old Volvo 240 family car (picnic included); a bright yellow campervan, pimped out with a cocktail bar, party lights and loudspeakers; and a huge black monster truck, decorated with bones and flesh.

This is a show featuring such well-knowns as Sean Bean, Billy Zane, Adrian Lester and Phoebe Fox... but in the words of producer Simon Maloney, “the cars are the real stars.”

Curfew is set in a totalitarian future England ravaged by a mysterious virus that’s turned a large chunk of the population into nocturnal, flesh-eating monsters. No one’s allowed out after dark, hence the title. But there is seemingly a way out: passage to a utopian creature-free island, won only via an illegal no-rules-apply drag race across Britain, from London to the Scottish Highlands. Curfew, then, is Wacky Races meets The Fast And The Furious meets 28 Days Later, and is intended to be as exactly as fun and ludicrous as that sounds.

BILLY WHIZZ