Original Channel 4 drama weaves together the stories of four seemingly unconnected people.

Multi award-winning actress Olivia Colman (Rev, Tyrannosaur, Peep Show) and Katie Leung (Harry Potter, Wild Swans) head the cast of Channel 4’s new four-part contemporary drama Run.

The original drama weaves together the stories of four seemingly unconnected people who are facing life-changing decisions in a world where there is little choice and survival is never a given.

Each episode tells the stories of: Carol (Olivia Colman), a stoical, resilient, kind but tough single parent striving to keep her family together despite the constant trials and tribulations presented by her teenage sons Dean and Terry. Carol inhabits a world where low-level crime is part of the everyday struggle to survive. But petty theft and the odd bit of dealing are one thing; murder is quite another.

Ying (Katie Leung) is an illegal Chinese immigrant who sells pirate DVDs and stolen phones on the streets of Brixton in hope of making a life for herself in the UK. But first she must pay her debts to the Snakehead gang who smuggled her into Britain. When an immigration raid leaves her with no friends, no home and no money, an unlikely love story begins which could offer Ying a way out.

Richard (tbc) is a middle-aged ex-heroin addict who is struggling to stay clean so that he can re-establish contact with his teenage daughter Sabrina. As events seem to conspire against him, Richard is torn between the world of drug addiction and the harder path to salvage the only relationship that matters to him.

Katrina (tbc) is a young Polish woman who discovers her husband, Tomack, has been killed in a vicious attack. Alone for the first time in a world Tomack had always negotiated for her, Katrina struggles to find the strength to survive. And perhaps to run.

Created and written by newcomers Marlon Smith and Daniel Fajemisin-Duncan, directed by Bafta-nominated Charles Martin (Skins, Being Human, Wallander) and first-time drama director Jonathan Pearson and is produced by Chris Carey (Dirk Gently, This Is Jinsy).

“Channel 4 has a proud history of developing new drama talent both on and off screen and we are delighted to be continuing in that tradition with Run, a beautifully authored and original series about a strand of British life rarely seen on our screens” says Sophie Gardiner, Commissioning Editor.

Run is currently filming in and around London