Characters for the 2023 series Bodies. As this is a time-travel story covering four different time periods, over which characters overlap, expect spoilers.
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Main Characters
Shahara Hasan
DS Shahara Hasan
Played by: Amaka Okafor
The detective of the 2023 storyline, who slowly begins to piece her predecessors' case together. She is a Black, Muslim single mother.
- Cowboy Cop: She has no qualms breaking and entering for an off-the-books investigation into a crazy hunch.
- Mama Bear: Shahara Hasan is very close to her son. Part of her reason for assisting Defoe with the time machine is to prevent his death, even if it means her future will be gone, and she has not forgiven Mannix for causing the detonation.
- My Future Self and Me: Time-traveling Hasan eventually meets up with her younger self and even gets to hug herself before she — and then that entire timeline — becomes Ret-Gone.
- Outliving One's Offspring: The mysterious organization ominously claims that her young son will be a sacrifice in their plan to create a better world. Despite her attempts, it comes to pass, and she spends the next thirty years as the leader of La Résistance in revenge.
- Race Lift: She shares her comic counterpart's Muslim religion, but not her Persian heritage. Instead, the show's Shahara is South Asian.
Charles Whiteman
DS Charles Whiteman (ne Karl Weissman)
Played by: Jacob Fortune-Lloyd
The detective of the 1941 storyline, a charming Jewish man. He begins the story already entwined with a mysterious organization.
- Adaptational Heroism: His comic counterpart is an unrepentant Corrupt Cop running a small criminal syndicate who had a hand in death of his niece Esther and self-admittedly only looks out for #1. In the show, while he starts as the pawn of some criminals, he already has standards his comic counterpart doesn't, and eventually finds the heroism and willpower to turn against the Harker conspiracy and die a hero.
- And This Is for...: He slashes the throat of Hayden Harker, the police commissioner and Polly's son in the name of Calloway, his honorable deceased superior, who was killed by Hayden.
- Corrupt Cop: Despite seemingly being a respectable police sergeant, Whiteman is corrupt and works as a fixer for criminals.
- Detective Mole: Whiteman is put in charge of finding out who was driving the car with the dead body and inadvertently caused the death of a police officer. We already know that he was the one driving the car.
- Everyone Has Standards: Whiteman is extremely corrupt but he draws the line at killing a child.
- Good Guns, Bad Guns: Whiteman's preferred pistol for his off the books work is a Luger, a really odd weapon for a Jewish man living in London during World War II to be using. As he undergoes his Heel–Face Turn, he switches to a revolver, which he uses to kill Harker in both the original and revised timelines.
- Naturalized Name: Charles Whiteman's real name is Karl Weissman, Anglicized to appear less overtly Jewish during The Blitz. His antisemitic superior insists on calling him "Weissman" regardless.
- Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Whiteman is ruthlessly corrupt to the point of committing murder, but has some kind of conscience — which seems to be why he targets a convicted rapist to kill off as a scapegoat to cover his own crimes.
- Wouldn't Hurt a Child: He's visibly disturbed when Polly suggests he has it in him to kill Esther, a little girl. He not only fakes her death but attempts to sneak her out of London, and fully turns against the Harkers when she is killed anyway.
Alfred Hillinghead
DI Alfred Hillinghead
Played by: Kyle Soller
The detective of the 1890 storyline, who struggles both with naming a high-profile suspect in the Longharvest murder and his secret homosexuality.
- Adaptational Name Change: Alfred's comic counterpart was named Edmond Hillinghead.
- Animal Metaphor: While investigating the Longharvest Lane case, Hillinghead uses the alias "Archie Cartwright". Later, we find out in flashbacks that Julian Harker owned a dog named Archie — who was the only one in Lady Harker's household unwilling to accept that the man she brings home as her son is really Julian.
- Armoured Closet Gay: When Hillinghead comes to collect photographer Henry Ashe's photos of the body, he ends up arresting him, allegedly for indecency due to photos showing him amorously sitting with other men, but really because Ashe, who basically looks through Hillinghead's mask from the second they meet, makes a pass at him. He's also "happily" married with a wife and daughter. Justified, as he's an otherwise respectable gentleman in Victorian London.
- Caged Bird Metaphor: The Hillingheads have a canary in a little birdcage, who shares some screentime with Alfred while he is still wrestling with societal expectations and his own wishes.
- Gayngst: Hillinghead is terrified of anyone noticing that he is attracted to men, to the point where he gets notably angry when he becomes interested in Henry Ashe. Part of his character arc is overcoming this fear to a degree where he can be honest about his feelings to Henry, to his wife Charlotte, and to himself. Justified, as male homosexuality was still illegal in 1890s England and was punishable by jail time with hard labour.
- Great Detective: Hillinghead has a reputation as a good inspector, and often uses methods the British police force haven't even adopted yet. Hillinghead collects fingerprints, which European police forces were using at the time (hence the "continental methods" remark) but the British police weren't.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Does this twice: when Harker tries to blackmail him into framing Henry for Defoe's death, he confesses to the murder himself, knowing that this will lead to him getting executed. And when Maplewood tells him Harker is going to have him killed on the way to prison, he still goes along with it to be able to talk Harker into giving up his plan.
- Papa Wolf: He commonly isn't violent, but he tries to attack both Harker and Maplewood when they tell him Harker loves/wants to marry his daughter Polly.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: After being told the truth about Harker/Mannix by Maplewood, Hillinghead, who has nothing left to lose at this point, gives a scathing tirade to him, telling him he will never truly achieve the love he so desires. This shakes Mannix to the core and marks the first noticeable change in the timeline.
- Take a Third Option: In the fifth episode, Harker tries to blackmail him: frame Ashe for the murder and continue living as a respectable gentleman, or the compromising photographs of him with the body will leak and he will be disgraced. Rather than destroy either Ashe or Charlotte and Polly, Hillinghead presents a false confession that he did the murders.
- The Tell: According to his daughter he has a hitch in his voice when he lies. Hearing it is why she maintains his innocence after his arrest.
Iris Maplewood
DC Iris Maplewood
Played by: Shira Haas
The detective of the 2053 storyline. She is paraplegic and her policing job allows her access to SPYNE, implant technology that lets her walk.- Adaptational Name Change: Her comic counterpart does go by Maplewood, but it comes from her full name Maggie Mae Belwood. Here, her name is Iris Maplewood.
- Animal Metaphor: Mannix explains that Maplewood's superior described her as a "bloodhound" and that he specifically requested her to find Chapel Perilous — and by extension the time machine, although he doesn't tell her that. Maplewood does find the group but also remains on Mannix' tracks into the past when she realizes she has been duped.
- Big Brother Is Employing You: Maplewood is a detective working for a totalitarian regime in 2053.
- Disabled in the Adaptation: Her comic counterpart is an able-bodied amnesiac. The show's Maplewood has all her memories, but is paraplegic and uses special spinal implant technology to walk.
- Sci-Fi Bob Haircut: Maplewood (along with some of her colleagues) wears a variation on this trope — a rather severe undercut. It perhaps isn't terribly attractive by 2023 standards, but it marks her setting down as a future where things are different, and fits a servant of an authoritarian regime.
- Ship Tease: With Gabriel Defoe. They clearly get along well, though them being on opposite sides, his resistance group kidnapping her, and her shooting him make things more complicated. She does figure out how to save his life, potentially putting them back on track, but then she travels back in time to set things right, leading to them being separated by 163 years.
- To Be Lawful or Good: Her dilemma: to preserve the society she grew up in and who, while authoritarian, does provide for its members, or to prevent the disaster that caused its rise in the first place - a nuclear bomb killing five million people and ravaging London.
Gabriel Defoe
Gabriel Defoe
Played by: Tom Mothersdale
The John Doe whose corpse appears in all four time periods. The 2053 storyline identifies him as Gabriel Defoe, a professor researching time travel.- Eye Scream: The corpse bearing his likeness notably has a gunshot wound through the eye, but Defoe is alive and uninjured. It is eventually revealed that Iris shoots him through the eye just before he falls through the time machine.
- My Future Self and Me: Defoe gets to see one of his own copies from the future — and even watch it die!
- Nerd Glasses: He wears round glasses that make him dorky and professorial.
- Ship Tease: Spends quite a pleasant dinner with Iris, and clearly, some sparks are flying. Things turn awkward when she turns out to be very much in favour of the Executive leading to Defoe trying to escape and eventually kidnapping Iris with the help of another Chapel Perilous member, and then more awkward when Iris shoots him to keep him from going after Mannix. She then figures out how to save his life, though, so things are looking slightly up again.
- The Smart Guy: Due to his research into time travel, he is the brains behind Chapel Perilous.
Elias Mannix (SPOILERS)
Elias Mannix/Julian Harker
As a teenager
As an adult
Played by: Gabriel Howell, Stephen Graham
A troubled teen who, after a devastating bombing in 2023, takes power and becomes the authoritarian leader of Britain.
- Big Bad: As an adult, he's the primary villain of the series and responsible for both the bombing and, indirectly, for Ganriel's murder. As a teenager, he's closer to an Anti-Villain considering his Freudian Excuse and how much he's manipulated by others.
- Canon Foreigner: Neither Elias nor the Stable Time Loop that results in his rise to power were in the original comic.
- Even Evil Has Standards: As mentioned under Politically Correct Villain, Elias makes a point to tell Hillinghead that he supports homosexuality and believes his future will allow people to live and love as they please.
- Freudian Excuse: Invoked. The time loop has him live as a traumatized foster kid in the 21st century so he fully understands "life from the gutter" and matures into the leader of an authoritarian junta that aims to "spread love". In fact, Elias's decision to detonate the bomb in 2023 is ultimately triggered by his mother's apparent rejection of him shortly after the death of his father, resulting in Elias desperately wanting to "know [he] is loved."
- From Nobody to Nightmare: Elias went from mysterious troubled teen in 2023 to commander of the authoritarian regime in 2053 to founder and leader of an evil cult in 1890.
- Hypocrite: Mannix assures Hillinghead that his love for another man is not a sin, but doesn't hesitate to use the homophobia of Victorian society to blackmail him, forcing him to make a choice between condemning his innocent lover to death or having his reputation destroyed.
- I Just Want to Be Loved: As a teenager, Elias has been abandoned by his parents and has little in the way of friends, and desires this companionship. This is where his cult's ominous mantra, Know You Are Loved, comes from. Hillinghead telling him that all his manipulations don't amount to true love is what breaks the Stable Time Loop.
- My Own Grampa: Elias is born in the 21st century, travels back in time to Victorian London to live as "Julian Harker", marries Polly, and starts a bloodline that culminates in Danny Barber conceiving him with Sarah Mannix.
- Oh, Crap!: He bears a horrified and shocked expression when Hillinghead refers to him by his true name, Elias.
- Politically Correct Villain: He may be the leader of a cult that will facilitate his own rise to power, but he assures Hillinghead in 1890 that being gay is no sin. This is justified by him being from 21st-century Britain.
- Time Travel for Fun and Profit: He uses his knowledge of the future to both attract recruits to his cult and to build the vast fortune that would be required to carry out it's schemes.
- Villainous Breakdown: Mannix has a prolonged breakdown over the course of episode 8, eventually culminating in him making a secret recording for his younger self, admitting that the conspiracy was based on a lie.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: The older Elias Mannix claims the hundreds of thousands of deaths involved in maintaining the time loop are for the greater good, as it's brought peace and prosperity to Britain. Those that live on the outskirts of this supposed utopia beg to differ.
- Write Back to the Future: Mannix leaves numerous recordings for future members of the conspiracy (including his younger self) so that they know exactly how to shape the events to achieve a Stable Time Loop. His secret one, recorded in the last episode, ends up undoing the loop entirely.
- Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: While the elder Mannix ruthlessly destroys people standing in his way to both get the family he wants and the "better" world he dreams of, his 15-year-old self is mostly a traumatized, lonely kid who has been manipulated and brainwashed his whole life, and who commits a horrid atrocity mainly in the hope of finally experiencing the love he was promised.
1890
Henry Ashe
Henry Ashe
Played by: George Parker
A journalist who photographs Julian Harker in Longharvest Lane.
- Closet Key: For Hillinghead; while both Alfred and his wife Charlotte are aware that something is going on with him, and he reacts subtly guilty to his colleagues' (period-fitting) casual homophobia, it's the connection with Henry that obviously clears the situation for him.
- Intrepid Reporter: He's a journalist keen on finding out who killed Defoe and teams up with Hillinghead at least partly because they both want to solve the murder.
- Mr. Fanservice: Has the somewhat peculiar habit of opening the door shirtless, which has quite the effect on Hillinghead.
- The Watson: Acts as the receptacle for Hillinghead's Holmesian deductions in Episode 3, "All In Good Time". He's pretty snarky about it, teasing Hillinghead about mistaking left for right and not wanting to teach him a secret handshake.
Polly Hillinghead
Polly Hillinghead (later Lady Polly Harker)
As a teenager
As an adult
Played by: Synnove Karlsen, Greta Scacchi
The daughter of Alfred Hillinghead.
- Break the Cutie: Hillinghead's death in both the initial and the slightly revised timeline takes a toll on her, as does finding out that her husband is not only the leader of a cult, but also her actual great-great grandson. While she still develops a deep love and devotion to Harker in the first timeline, him confessing to having her father killed in the second and coercing her to stay in their marriage under threat of violence lead to her going along with him, but despising him for the rest of their lives because of it.
- Elegant Classical Musician: She's a sweet young English Rose who is talented with the piano. She even dies while playing it. And in the final timeline, we see a poster behind Whiteman advertising her playing a concert for the war effort, implying that without Mannix's influence, she'll become a famous pianist.
- Face–Heel Turn: In 1890, Polly Hillinghead is the sweet-natured daughter of Alfred Hillinghead. By 1941, she is the willing accomplice and wife of Mannix. In the revised timeline, however, she's much more reluctant to do his dirty work and her marriage to Mannix is a great deal unhappier.
- Fairytale Motifs: Goes from a sweet princess-like character to an evil witch, specifically the Queen in Snow White, to whom Whiteman compares her when she phones him to find out if he has killed Esther. She later poisons the girl with chocolate while posing as a friendly old lady, like the Evil Queen poisons Snow White with an apple.
- Precious Photo: Though she's an example of Evil Old Folks by 1941, Polly has still hung on to the locket with the photograph of her and her parents, implying she still thinks fondly of her long-deceased father.
- Spirited Young Lady: Polly Hillinghead is artistic, bright and outspoken ("made of high spirits", her mother describes her), yet stays well within the confines of her society. In the loop, she becomes Harker's/Mannix's wife, and either ends up becoming a willing accomplice or goes along with the cult's machinations while hating her husband in the slightly revised version of the timeline.
- You Remind Me of X: She compares Whiteman to her father Alfred, as they were both stubborn cops whose investigations into the Longharvest murders ended badly.
- Would Hurt a Child: Unlike Whiteman who refuses to harm the young Esther and fakes her death instead, Polly has no qualms poisoning the girl.
Charlotte Hillinghead
Charlotte Hillinghead
Played by: Amy Manson
Alfred Hillinghead's devoted wife.
- The Beard: Hillinghead is married to Charlotte, and they even have a daughter, Polly. It's pretty clear that Charlotte is aware something is off about their marriage, and she's incredibly astute when it comes to pinning down the situation between her husband and Henry Ashe. They still care about each other, and the thought of losing Charlotte and Polly is more devastating to Hillinghead than the loss of his reputation, should he be outed.
- Nice Girl: When Hillinghead returns home distraught because he has just falsely confessed to Defoe's murder, Charlotte figures that this has something to do with Henry Ashe and asks him directly about it. When Hillinghead admits that she's right, she is understandably upset, but clearly moved at his anguish, and only wants to know if anything about their family was ever real. She completely forgets about the situation once Alfred gets arrested, and breaks down in tears over seeing him get taken away.
Julian Harker
Sir Julian Harker
Played by: Stephen Graham
A wealthy Victorian aristocrat who is photographed at the scene of the crime.
- Classy Cane: Hillinghead is able to identify his mysterious photographed suspect as the nobleman Julian Harker by his expensive and stylish cane. He limps because Hasan shoots him in 2053 just before he travels to 1890.
- Dead Person Impersonation: As far as the general public is concerned, he is the scion of the Harker family, and a war hero — but gossip among the Harkers' servants suggests that he looks nothing like the real son of Agatha Harker, who had his portraits repainted to match his likeness.
- Identical Stranger: He looks startlingly like Commander Mannix, who lives 150 years ahead of him. Because he is Commander Mannix, having time traveled back to 1890.
- Stalker without a Crush: Julian Harker seems rather obsessed with Hillinghead and even calls himself a big fan when they first meet. He even seems genuinely regretful he has to kill Hillinghead to further his plans, and makes sure to tell Alfred that he really tried to find a world where they could be on the same side. This seems somewhat caused by Hillinghead being both Harker's/Mannix's great-great-great grandfather *and* his prospective father-in-law, and Mannix's desperate yearning for familial affection.
Agatha Harker
Lady Agatha Harker
Played by: Anna Calder-Marshall
Julian Harker's mother and an alleged clairvoyant.
- Impoverished Patrician: Implied. Despite being a noblewomannote with a fancy estate, she admits to Elias, when he admits he isn't really "Julian" that she doesn't have much in the way of fortune left. Their stockbroking influence eventually refills the family coffers.
- Not-So-Phony Psychic: Hillinghead has seen his fair share of phony psychics and is naturally skeptical that Agatha's supposed fortunetelling seances are legitimate; he figures that the Harkers are just committing some other white collar crime. However, it is implied by how the spirit she claims to have channeled begins to identify their killer — they spell out "MA", when we learn later that Elias/Julian doesn't know Maplewood shot Defoe — that her seances are somehow the real deal.
1941
Calloway
DCI Calloway
Played by: Derek Riddell
Chief inspector in 1941.- Have You Told Anyone Else?: Hears Polly's confession to Esther's murder and tells his boss about it. Unfortunately, that's her son, who makes sure Calloway is the only one other than Whiteman who knows before killing him.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Whiteman correctly guesses that his superior Calloway is trustworthy and comes to him when it seems the Harkers have him cornered. Calloway backs him up in the ensuing investigation. And unlike his "successor" Barber, he's not entrenched with the Harkers either...unfortunately, it's for naught, since his boss is.
- Token Good Cop: Might be one of the few people in the 1941 storyline who is not in some way corrupt. Given that he exists in a noir world this goes about as well for him as you might expect.
Esther Jankovsky
Esther Jankovsky
Played by: Chloe Raphael
A young Jewish refugee from Berlin. She witnesses Whiteman's actions in the first episode.
- Girlish Pigtails: She wears her hair in two braids down the side of her face, making her look more girlish.
- Hiding Behind the Language Barrier: She threatens fellow Jew Whiteman in Yiddish, which none of his colleagues at the precinct understand. Calloway correctly figures that Whiteman isn't exactly the most truthful Translator Buddy.
- Morality Pet: Whiteman's growing concern for her despite her getting him in really hot water is the first sign that he's not just the slimy Corrupt Cop he was introduced as.
- Street Urchin: Saved from Nazi Germany through the Kindertransport, Esther appears to be on her own and tries to get by through stealing and the occasional blackmail. Whiteman also claims that she runs with a gang of youthful looters, though that may have been a ruse to convince Calloway she wasn't a reliable witness.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Esther is clever and has learned to be ruthless, but she is also a 11-year-old child; her attempt at blackmailing a corrupt police officer ultimately leads to her getting killed because she manages to inconvenience powerful people.
Kathleen Squires
Kathleen Squires
Played by: Emily Barber
One of the secretaries at the police station.
- Affectionate Nickname: Whiteman mostly-affectionately calls her "Kath".
- Beneath Suspicion: She appears to be one of the secretaries Whiteman trusts, and so he's obviously shocked when she turns out to have been The Mole.
- I Have Your Wife: The conspiracy threatens to kill her young son, unless she spies for them.
- The Mole: She turns out to have been ratting out the station's movements to the Harkers. Whiteman, knowing how dangerous they are, does not begrudge her this.
2023
Syed Tahir
Syed Tahir
Played by: Chaneil Kular
A childhood friend of Elias Mannix who is initially suspected of killing the man on Longharvest Lane.
- Childhood Friends: Hasan learns that he and Elias grew up in the foster system together. She correctly figures that they are close and Elias is more deeply tied to Syed's death than he initially claims.
- Sacrificial Lamb: By taking his own life he is the first major victim of the conspiracy (from the audience's POV anyway), establishing just how ruthless they are in achieving their goals.
Danny Barber
DCI Danny Barber
Played by: Michael Jibson
Chief inspector in 2023 and Hasan's superior.- Nom de Mom: That he goes by his mother's maiden name of Barber is a plot point, as it hides that he is a direct descendant of Julian Harker.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: He has the well-being of his subordinates in mind and accommodates Shahara's Cowboy Cop tendencies because he knows she's on to something. Subverted — he's a Mole in Charge entrenched with the doomsday cult, and his accommodations are intended to manipulate events so Elias induces the explosion.
Andrew and Elaine Morley
Andrew and Elaine Morley
Played by: Mark Lewis Jones and Kate Ashfield
Foster parents of Elias Mannix.
- Legacy of Service: Elaine's family has "worked for the Harkers since year dot", explaining why they're so entwined with the Harker conspiracy.
- Tongue Trauma: Elaine bites off her tongue when she realizes she's said too much, cackling all the while.
Sarah Mannix
Sarah Mannix
Played by: Natalie Gavin
The biological mother of Elias.
- Teen Pregnancy: She had Elias as a runaway teenager. This was exploited, as this difficult circumstance ensured she would give him up to foster care, and these experiences would eventually mold the future Commander Mannix into the Visionary Villain he is in 2053.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: An impulsive refusal to see her son as he's being carted off to jail causes him to detonate the bomb with a secret backup detonator, desperate for a world where he is loved.
- Uptown Girl: She was a poor runaway, Elias' father was a rich banking heir. When she told him she was pregnant she was faced with lawyers thinking she was a Gold Digger.
2053
Alby
Alby
Played by: Edwin Thomas
Iris Maplewood's estranged brother, who, unlike her, refused to work for the government.
- Friend in the Black Market: He and his sister aren't on the best of terms because he sees her as someone who sold out to their authoritarian overlords, but he's still willing to run illegal DNA scans and hide fugitives for her.
Lorna Dunnet
Lorna Dunnet
Played by: Philippa Dunne
Iris' neighbor.
- Beneath Suspicion: Initially seeming like a harmless kooky neighbor, really a devoted member of suspected terrorist group Chapel Perilous.
- Kindhearted Cat Lover: She has a calico cat named Bella, who keeps ending up on window sills or running into apartments, forcing Lorna to socialize with Iris. While there is no indication that Lorna doesn't dote on her cat, it seems fairly obvious she lets Bella lose on purpose to satisfy her curiosity about Iris' life and spy on her for Chapel Perilous.
