When Is Reunion On TV?

This bilingual BBC thriller is making a splash, delving into struggles of a deaf man trapped between two worlds. Deaf actor Matthew Gurney leads Reunion as ex-con Daniel Brennan, who is unable to fully integrate into the hearing world and is equally shunned by his closest friends and the wider deaf community in the wake of his heinous crime. As the truth of his arrest and conviction unravel across the series, one question rattles in our minds: is Reunion based on a true story? Here’s what we know.

Is BBC’s Reunion Based On A True Story?

No, Reunion is not based on a true story. The four-part thriller was created and written by Sheffield-born deaf writer William Mager to tell Daniel’s story of revenge and redemption. ‘Reunion is the story of a man called Daniel Brennan,’ Mager says. ‘He’s just out of prison after ten years inside for committing a terrible crime. He’s lost his family. He’s lost his friends. He’s lost the deaf community. But he’s on a journey of revenge. But that journey becomes something different from what he’s expecting and from what the audience is expecting. It starts as a typical story of revenge, and then it becomes something bigger and more powerful.’

Mager tells the BBC the story stemmed from ‘an idea a long time ago’. ‘Initially, it was from a place of emotion, a place of anger, sadness,’ Mager says. ‘It felt like I had something to say. Originally, I wanted to write it as a short drama – that was 10 years ago. But then three or four years ago, I started to look at that idea again and realised it would work better as a series. I just wrote it for myself. But what was interesting was that when I started to send out the script, everyone loved it. I was shocked by that because, when you write something for yourself, you don’t care what other people think about it. But when people like it, it’s great and kind of scary, too.’

Mager wanted to showcase the importance and power of the deaf community; Daniel grew up surrounded by deaf people in both his friends and family, and ‘that’s the community that forms his identity,’ Mager explains. So when he is convicted of murder, ‘it becomes a double prison sentence for Brennan: he is in physical prison, but he finishes his time and is in a different kind of prison,’ Mager says.

‘That’s part of the story: how he deals with that isolation and overcomes the feeling of losing everything,’ Mager says. ‘In the deaf community, everybody knows everybody, and Brennan is a victim of rumours. Nobody knows why he did what he did, and everyone’s created theories and ideas about what happened that night.

‘Reunion also shows the power of the deaf community,’ Mager adds. ‘It can be a place of safety where you feel you can be your authentic self, but when Brennan’s excluded from that, it becomes a very different thing for him – something more judgmental and claustrophobic. They’ve turned against him. It was interesting for us to explore this and how you deal with being rejected by the community that you love.’

Matthew Gurney, who leads the series, describes Mager’s writing as ‘electrifying’ and his experience on Reunion as ‘a privilege’, calling the drama a ‘gripping tale of revenge, redemption and reconciliation’.

Carly (LARA PEAKE) and Daniel Brennan (MATTHEW GURNEY) in Reunion. (© BBC/Warp Films/Matt Squire)

Reunion: The Cast

• Matthew Gurney as Daniel Brennan
• Lara Peake as Carly, Daniel’s estranged daughter
• Anne-Marie Duff as Christine
• Eddie Marsan as Stephen Renworth, Christine’s protective boyfriend
• Rose Ayling-Ellis as Miri, Christine’s daughter
• Stephen Collins as Sean
• Ace Mahbaz as Ray Mokhtar
• Sophie Stone as Naomi Brennan
• Olive Gray as Anna Shenford
• Joe Sims as Joe Summers
• Julian Peedle-Calloo as Gardner
• Cherie Gordon as Tasha
• Rinkoo Barpaga as Vinay
• James Joseph Boyle as Matthew
• Duffy as David
• Joanne Harrison as Matthew’s mum
• David Hirshman as Matthew’s dad

Christine (ANNE-MARIE DUFF) in Reunion. (© BBC/Warp Films/Matt Squire)

Where Was Reunion Filmed?

Reunion is set in Sheffield, and it was filmed in the steel city, too. ‘What I wanted to do was write a love letter to my hometown, Sheffield,’ says series creator Mager. ‘To show those amazing locations that I remember from my childhood, but also show that there’s a strong deaf community here in Sheffield. We’ve used a lot of deaf people who live and work here as part of Reunion, which was important for me. I grew up here and I lived here for 22 years.

‘One thing I always loved about Sheffield was the contrast,’ Mager adds. ‘The centre of town has lots of old buildings from the industrial past, the steel industry, and then five minutes’ drive out of the centre and you’re in the countryside. It’s beautiful, it’s green and the contrast of that is so surprising for me. What I like about Reunion is that it starts in quite a dark place. It starts in prison. But by the end, the journey takes us to the countryside, where we find our final scenes.’

Stephen Renworth (EDDIE MARSAN) and Carly (LARA PEAKE) in Reunion. (© BBC/Warp Films/Matt Squire)

When Is Reunion On TV?

The first two episodes of Reunion aired on Monday 7 and Tuesday 8 April 2025. Episodes three and four will air on Monday 14 and Tuesday 15 April 2025 at 9pm on BBC One.

All four episodes are available to stream now on BBC iPlayer.