Charlotte Ritchie and Tanya Moodie star in comedy thriller Hostages
- Hostages is a comedy action film set during an unfolding terrorism situation in London, starring Charlotte Ritchie and Tanya Moodie
- Aiming for release later this year, the film is the feature debut of writer-director Jim Owen and co-stars comedians Luke McQueen and Nick Helm, with Nicholas Asbury and Raj Ghatak
- "Hostages is a Friday night date movie" says Owen. "It's a daft film really, with the odd serious angle: narcissism, the 24-hour news cycle, experts and the death of truth"
Charlotte Ritchie leads a new comedy thriller about five strangers caught in an unfolding terrorism situation, British Comedy Guide can exclusively reveal.
The Ghosts star plays a wannabe social media influencer live-posting from the incident in the British independent film Hostages, which co-stars Tanya Moodie, Nicholas Asbury, Raj Ghatak and stand-ups Luke McQueen and Nick Helm.
When explosions rock the London Bridge Hotel, Charlie (Ritchie), high-flying businesswoman Rochelle (Motherland's Moodie) and Keith, a former journalist-turned-Uber driver played by Asbury (Chewing Gum), fail to join the evacuation and instead barricade themselves into the room of fellow guest, Himmat (Ghosts' Ghatak), where they are subsequently found by the hotel's security guard, played by McQueen.
Uncle star Helm is an expert on hostage scenarios explaining to the rolling news coverage how the event might unfold.
"Just sit in the middle of the room and be quiet" the group are told. But are Charlie's social media updates exacerbating the situation? And how far will she go to sustain her newfound fame?
Shot in the London Bridge Hotel in 2022, the film has secured a distributor, with a plan for it to be released later this year. Hostages is the debut feature of Jim Owen, who writes and directs, and whose credits include BBC Scotland's What's Funny About The Indyref? and a series of short films featuring comedians such as Diane Morgan, Brett Goldstein, Liz Kingsman, Alistair Green, Jack Barry and Rachel Stubbings.
"Hostages is our micro-budget comedy, but we always had in our head that the film is a Friday night date movie" Owen told BCG. "You can't get into Mission Impossible, you chance your arm with Hostages. We wanted to make a film that got seen and we're waiting to see if that bit happens.
"But it's a daft film really, with the odd serious angle: narcissism, the 24-hour news cycle, experts and the death of truth. Sounds a bit Newsnight doesn't it? So if Newsnight was a comedy film, it would be this."
Hostages is produced by Ben Gallop (Nina Forever) and is the first feature for his and Owen's fledgling production company, Rawk Pictures.