U.K. Porn-Themed TV Drama ‘Adult Material’ to Debut After Delay

LOS ANGELES—A four-part TV series set inside the British porn industry is now expected to see its premiere in October. The raunchy drama, Adult Material, had originally been set to debut on Britain’s commercial Channel 4 network in March.  But the show was delayed to accommodate its placement in a 10 p.m. time slot, after earlier slots were deemed inappropriate for the show’s sexually frank content. No specific premiere date has been set, however. Because the 10 p.m. slot conflicts with news broadcasts on other networks, which were viewed heavily during the early stages of the coronavirus crisis, producers said that they believed the show could reach a wider audience by holding the premiere until later in the year. The series stars British actress Hayley Squires, who also appeared in the long-running series Call The Midwife (streaming via Netflix in the United States), as “Jolene Dollar,” who is “a mother of three and seasoned pro in the sex movie industry,” according to a Sun newspaper account. “Despite being in the business all her grown-up life, the character is portrayed still struggling to juggle her unusual job with maintaining a normal family.” According to The Sun, the series “reveals that due to an abundance of free sex content now found on the internet, the creators of the films need to deliver increasingly extreme images to persuade people to pay.” Adult Material does not shy away from depicting “such graphic images,” according to The Sun report. The series also features Joe Dempsie — best known as “Gendry Baratheon” on the HBO series Game of Thrones — as Jolene’s longtime partner, and Julian Ovenden ("Charles Blake" of Downton Abbey) as Tom Pain, a character described as an American “porn kingpin.” Veteran actor Rupert Everett portrays adult film producer “Carroll Quinn” in the show. Everett is perhaps best-known in the United States for his role in the Julia Roberts-starring 1997 romantic comedy, My Best Friend’s Wedding.  Rounding out the lead roles is Phil Daniels, who achieved cult-favorite status for his lead role as the disaffected mod teenager Jimmy in the 1979 film adaptation of the Who album Quadrophenia — as well as his appearance in the 1994 music video “Parklife,” by the iconic ‘90s Brit-pop band Blur. In Adult Material, Daniels takes the role of an adult film director who works regularly with Jolene. Photo By Channel 4 YouTube Screen Capture