Then You Run writer Ben Chanan on shocking pre-titles sequences
The writer of the new Sky drama unpacks those shocking opening scenes.
Brand-new Sky series Then You Run comes from The Capture writer Ben Chanan, and while it primarily focuses on a group of girls on the run across Europe from a criminal gang, the opening of each episode starts by following a very different mysterious figure.
At the start of the very first episode, viewers are introduced to 'The Traveller', a seemingly ordinary man stuck in traffic who proceeds to get out of his car and murder every other person stuck in traffic around him. It's a brutal, shocking sequence, which is followed by similar scenes at the start of the proceeding episodes.
In an exclusive interview with RadioTimes.com, Chanan refused to be drawn on the significance of these scenes to the wider story, but did assure viewers that they will tie in.
He said: "What I would say is that our brilliant lead director Robin MacKillop has designed and shot these three incredible pre-titles sequences at the beginning of the first three episodes, and those pre-titles continue as the series goes on.
"But I would tease it by saying each episode starts with the most incredible, epic mass murder, and you have to wait to find out how that that mass murder story is going to tie in with the rest of it, but I can assure you it will."
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In the interview, Chanan also explained what drew him to choose this as his next project, with the series being based on the novel You by Zoran Drvenkar.
He said: "Someone sent me the novel in, probably going back to 2016. And I was struck by how adventurous it was and how ambitious it was, the idea of adapting it, because it's an ensemble piece, and there's a lot of characters in the novel. And first of all I'd never adapted anything, so that was novel for me in the first place.
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"But also, I tend to follow stories where you're following a strong lead with something like a traditional arc. And this was just completely the opposite of that. You had about 30, 40 characters in the book, and we've had to trim that down a little bit. But I love the challenge of interweaving lots of different characters’ stories.
"I think it's a really easy watch, but if you're following the story of the mysterious German mass murderer who's sort of appearing at the beginning of every episode and it's not quite clear why he's there, there will be a point quite soon where you'll see how he intersects with the rest of the story. And working that out was great fun, for myself and my co-writers."
Then You Run is available to stream now and airs on Sky Max at 9pm on Friday 7th July 2023 – sign up for Sky TV here or stream on NOW.
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Authors
James Hibbs is a Drama Writer for Radio Times, covering programmes across both streaming platforms and linear channels. He previously worked in PR, first for a B2B agency and subsequently for international TV production company Fremantle. He possesses a BA in English and Theatre Studies and an NCTJ Level 5 Diploma in Journalism.
