UK Television.: 2001, debuted in segments on the BBC.
USA: 2002

James Frain, Catherine McCormack, with Stephen Rea.
Also starring Hugh Bonneville and James Fox.

When insurance loss adjuster Lorimer Black (James Frain) visits a routine business appointment, he finds his client has hanged himself. Still reeling from the shock, Lorimer is then promptly handed another assignment from his boss, George Hogg (Stephen Rea). As Lorimer takes on another seemingly routine construction fire claim, he begins to notice his tireless world is suddenly beginning to unravel around him. The claim's investigation reveals a crooked insurance scheme with tentacles into the very places he thought he knew best. Lorimer's job and identity soon become threadbare, forcing him to either give into a corporate cover-up, or strike out on his own. Which will he choose?

Stephen Rea appears "tip top" and "in the pink" as George Hogg, a fiery "type A" boss who punctuates every sentence with a rich and playful slang, yet his dialogue often reveals timely and caustic questions about corporate ethics in an uncertain world. Nicely accentuated by the customary 9 - 5 attire of striped shirts, bold ties and suspenders, look for Rea in a different role here, complete with scenes of him shouting at parking space violators and then calmly relaying epithets of worldly wisdom in a barber shop parlour. Rea is delightful in this role. A must see for fans.

Adapted by William Boyd from his best-selling novel

HOGG
Bastards always prefer to do business with bastards. Everything is understood then. The problem occurs when decent folk, like you, and like me, have to live and work in the world of bastards. And we've got plenty of bastards in this square mile...

This world seems a sync. But you gotta distance yourself from it. Otherwise you simply surrender to despair...or become a bastard yourself.

- Stephen Rea as George Hogg

Howard Davies also directed stage performances with Stephen Rea, namely Piano and The Shaughraun. He also directed the TV film Copenhagen also starring Stephen Rea. Press releases indicate Howard Davies will direct the play Cyrano de Bergerac at the National Theatre in 2004, starring Stephen Rea in the title role.

James Frain can also be seen in the film Reindeer Games with Ben Affleck, Gary Sinise, Charlize Theron and Dennis Farina.

Catherine McCormack can be seen in The Taylor of Panama, starring Pierce Brosnan; a film which also includes appearances by the playwright and director Harold Pinter (see Stephen Rea's theatre page) and Jamie Lee Curtis.