The Gallows Pole cast: who stars in new BBC Two Shane Meadows drama with Michael Socha and Sophie McShera?

The Gallows Pole, a new drama from writer/director Shane Meadows, is coming to BBC Two today (31 May). It charts the true story of the Cragg Vale Coiners, albeit in a more expressionist and non-literal manner than a more traditional historical crime drama like The Gold.

The series stars a number of faces that’ll be familiar to fans of previous Shane Meadows dramas – including several actors from This Is England – but also includes a number of first-time performers cast through open auditions. 

Here’s everything you need to know about the cast of The Gallows Pole, from where you know (some of) them from already to what you should watch them in next.

Michael Socha as David Hartley

Who do they play in The Gallows Pole? Michael Socha plays David Hartley, the leader of the Cragg Vale Coiners. Hartley, like many of the characters in The Gallows Pole, was a real person who lived in West Yorkshire in the 1700s.

Where do I know them from? Again, like many of the actors in The Gallows Pole, you’ll recognise Socha from previous collaborations with Shane Meadows like This Is England and its subsequent television follow ups. He also starred in Being Human, Summer, and Our World War. 

What should I watch them in next? If you’ve not seen it already, you should check out the original This Is England film – both one of Socha’s first roles and the first time he worked with Shane Meadows, it’s an obvious one to watch after The Gallows Pole. 

Sophie McShera as Grace Hartley

Who do they play in The Gallows Pole? Sophie McShera plays Grace Hartley, wife of David Hartley and a key figure in the Cragg Vale Coiners gang. 

Where do I know them from? You’ll recognise McShera either as Downton Abbey’s Daisy Mason, or perhaps as Waterloo Road student Ros McCain. She’s also starred in the Netflix sports drama The Queen’s Gambit and Armando Ianucci’s The Personal History of David Copperfield.

What should I watch them in next? If you enjoy the folkloric horror elements of The Gallows Pole, you might want to try watching Sophie McShera’s episode of Inside No. 9, ‘Séance Time’. 

Thomas Turgoose as William Hartley

Who do they play in The Gallows Pole? Thomas Turgoose plays William Hartley, David’s younger brother.

Where do I know them from? Turgoose is best known as a former child actor, appearing as Shaun in Shane Meadows’ This Is England series. You might also recognise him from more recent roles in films like Terminal and Swimming with Men, or from the television series Intergalactic and Creation Stories.

What should I watch them in next? Somers Town – another of Turgoose’s collaborations with Meadows, albeit a less high-profile one – is worth checking out. (I spent absolutely years trying to work out what this film was, after watching it in parts and remembering only that it was in black and white.)

Samuel Edward-Cook as Isaac Hartley

Who do they play in The Gallows Pole? Samuel Edward-Cook plays Isaac Hartley, another of the Hartley brothers who joins the Cragg Vale Coiners gang. 

Where do I know them from? Edward-Cook is probably best known for playing Danny 'Whizz-Bang' Owen in the first series of Peaky Blinders, but you might also recognise him from subsequent roles in the Channel 4 comedy Pure, recurring roles in Doctors, Emmerdale, and Silent Witness, and the crime drama Innocent.

What should I watch them in next? If you want another Samuel Edward-Cook starring drama that’s set in and around the North of England, you might want to check out his most recent television series: the BBC One crime drama Better, which aired earlier this year.

Who else stars in The Gallows Pole?

The cast of The Gallows Pole also includes Adam Fogerty (Snatch) as James Broadbent, Anthony Welsh (The Flatshare) as Abe Oldfield, and Fine Time Fontayne (Peterloo) as Joseph Broadbent amongst others.

A number of the cast of The Gallows Pole – including Stevie Binns (Mand), Dave Perkins (Tom Hartley), and Olivia Pentelow (Hannah) amongst others – are first-time actors local to the area, found through a series of open auditions. 

Who writes and directs The Gallows Pole?

Shane Meadows wrote and directed all three episodes of The Gallows Pole (with heavy input from each actor, in keeping with his typically improvisational style). Meadows is probably best known for the film This Is England and its television follow ups This Is England ’86, ’88, and ’90.  

You might also know him from the Stephen Graham drama The Virtues, the 2009 film Le Donk and Scor-zay-zee, and the music documentary The Stone Roses: Made of Stone.

The Gallows Pole starts on BBC Two on Wednesday 31 May at 9pm. New episodes will air each week thereafter, with the full series available as part of a boxset on BBC iPlayer immediately. 

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