The actor created the new BBC miniseries with his father Chips and ‘Peaky Blinders’ creator Steven Knight
Tom Hardy has reportedly lost nearly £2 million from making his new BBC miniseries, Taboo.
Hardy’s new eight-part period drama, which follows the mysterious James Delaney’s (played by Hardy) return to London after many years in Africa to claim his father’s inheritance, was co-created by the actor’s father Chips and Peaky Blinder creator Steven Knight. It premiered in the UK on the BBC on January 7, and will run weekly on Saturday nights until February.
It has today been reported, however, that the company that Hardy founded – Taboo Productions Ltd – to handle the finances of making Taboo has recently reported a big loss. Accounts show that £10.4 million was spent on making Taboo, but its income only reached £8.4 million – an anonymous source told The Sun that “these new figures will make stark reading for Tom. No matter who you are or how much money you’re worth, £2 million is a lot of money to simply throw away.”
The source also said that Hardy hopes to reclaim some of the loss on future sales of DVDs and downloads, as well as syndication rights. Taboo currently airs in the US on FX, and has been sold around the world in countries such as Spain, Portugal and Russia.
Despite the financial losses, Taboo has been generally well-received by critics and audiences since its premiere, pulling in over 4 million viewers on the BBC for its January 14 episode.