The Widow is a British television drama series created and written by Harry and Jack Williams, airing on both British ITV and American streaming service Amazon Prime Video, with Prime also carrying the series internationally. It stars Kate Beckinsale as a woman who believes that her husband was killed in a plane crash three years earlier, but then discovers that he is still alive in the Congo. The show was released on Amazon Prime Video on 1 March 2019 before being broadcast on ITV from 8 April 2019.

Premise

The series follows Georgia Wells (Kate Beckinsale) whose husband Will died in a plane crash on a trip to the Congo in Africa. Three years later, she sees a man resembling him on a news story reporting civil unrest in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and she travels to Kinshasa to uncover the truth. She starts to look for answers, particularly why her husband evidently faked his own death. The eight-episode series features multiple story lines and explores themes such as violence and corruption.

Production

The Widow is a co-production of British ITV and Amazon Video. It was filmed in South Africa, Wales, and Rotterdam. The heat in some of the locations became difficult for Beckinsale, who was hospitalised after passing out while shooting a scene.

Cast

• Kate Beckinsale as Georgia Wells
• Charles Dance as Martin Benson
• Alex Kingston as Judith Gray
• Babs Olusanmokun as General Azikiwe
• Shalom Nyandiko as Adidja
• Luiana Bonfim as Gaëlle Kazadi
• Louise Brealey as Beatrix
• Bart Fouche as Pieter Bello/Hennie Botha
• Ólafur Darri Ólafsson as Ariel
• Howard Charles as Tom
• Réginal Kudiwu as Djamba
• Jacky Ido as Emmanuel
• Matthew Le Nevez as Will
• Matthew Gravelle as Joshua

Episodes

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date	Original UK air date	UK viewers (millions)
1	Mr. Tequila	Sam Donovan	Harry Williams & Jack Williams	March 1, 2019	April 8, 2019	8.08
Georgia Wells lives alone in a cottage in the Welsh countryside. While watching a news story about civil unrest in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, she sees a man that she believes is her husband, who presumably died in a plane crash three years earlier. Still haunted by the past, Georgia travels to the Congo to find out the truth.
2	Green Lion	Sam Donovan	Harry Williams & Jack Williams	March 1, 2019	April 9, 2019	6.88
To find the truth about her husband, Georgia must first work with Emmanuel, together they attempt to track down the mysterious Pieter Bello. Meanwhile, Beatrix makes a shocking discovery about how Ariel lost his sight.
3	The Survivors	Sam Donovan	Harry Williams & Jack Williams	March 1, 2019	April 15, 2019	6.74
Judith arranges a lift for Georgia with a group of medical aid workers, but the volatility of the region threatens to derail their journey. Pieter forces Adidja to partake in a terrifying exercise, while Ariel must confront the horrors of his past.
4	Violet	Sam Donovan	Harry Williams & Jack Williams	March 1, 2019	April 16, 2019	6.42
Martin and Ariel seek to determine the identity of the army general linked to the plane crash, while Georgia puts herself in danger to get closer to the elusive Pieter.
5	Poteza	Olly Blackburn	Harry Williams & Jack Williams	March 1, 2019	April 22, 2019	6.27
As she finally comes face to face with Pieter, Georgia resorts to extreme measures to learn more about Will s disappearance. Judith s return to her home brings back memories from her past, but she doesn t foresee an unexpected twist of fate.
6	The Spider and the Web	Olly Blackburn	Harry Williams & Jack Williams	March 1, 2019	April 23, 2019	6.16
Georgia and Adidja make a journey deep into the Congolese wilderness that yields unexpected consequences. Meanwhile, in the search for answers about the plane crash, Martin puts himself and Ariel ever closer to Azikiwe s dangerous path.
7	Will	Olly Blackburn	Harry Williams & Jack Williams	March 1, 2019	April 29, 2019	6.77
The search for Will takes Georgia to Rwanda. On her arrival, she prepares to finally learn the answers about what really happened to her husband, but is not ready for what she finds there.
8	Nigel	Olly Blackburn	Harry Williams & Jack Williams	March 1, 2019	April 30, 2019	6.30
Blindsided by the revelations about Will, Georgia returns to Kinshasa. But before she can right the wrongs of the past, she must contend with those determined to stop her from exposing the truth.

Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes season 1 has an approval rating of 56% based on reviews from 27 critics. The site s consensus states: Ferociously ambitious, The Widow boasts Kate Beckinsale s killer action chops but goes astray in a jungle of problematic tropes and unsatisfying twists.

Year	2019
ReleaseDate	2019-03-01
Plot	A woman’s search to uncover the mysterious disappearance of her husband leads her to the Congo, where she’s forced to seek the truth about what happened to the man she loved.
Awards	Awards, 1 win
Stars	Kate Beckinsale, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, Charles Dance
Series Produced by	Christopher Aird,Dianne Beatty,Kate Beckinsale,Samuel Donovan,Eliza Mellor,Emma Pike,Alison-Jane Roney,Rudi Van As,David Wicht,Harry Williams,Jack Williams,Rebecca Callas,Sandra de Boer
Series Music by	Dominik Scherrer
Series Cinematography by	Stuart Howell,John Lee
Series Film Editing by	Kim Gaster,Daniel Greenway,Peggy Koretzky,David Thrasher
Series Casting By	Gary Davy
Series Production Design by	Darryl Hammer
Series Art Direction by	Michael Hyman,Melinda Launspach,Patrick O Connor
Series Set Decoration by	Karl du Preez
Series Costume Design by	Kate Carin
Series Makeup Department	Chase Aston,Candice Drury,Lindsey Tanner,Francesca Van Der Feyst,Joeke Bonthuys,Cailin Nicolson,Elen Thomas
Series Production Management	Portia Napier,Simon Rhodes,Daniel J. Harris
Series Second Unit Director or Assistant Director	Killian April,Hercules Malan,Johannes Nortje,Danielle Richards,Liezel Stoffberg,Michael Swan,Bianca Vandewalle,Rosie Barber,Dominique Wedge,Jaap Evers,Corry Turner,Danie van Rensburg,Nezile Ntutha,Conrad Bester
Series Art Department	Jenn Baker,Patrick Baker,Janine Coleman,Sean de Beer,David Glasscoe,Will Pope,Pravika Singh,Shaughn Steenkamp,Ulf Suhrmuller,Michelle van Besouw,Karl Schulschenk,Mark Risk,Jacobus Uys van der Merwe
Series Sound Department	Richard Davey,Alan Gerhardt,Jack Gillies,Ian Wilkinson,Simone Galavazi,Gareth Meirion,Simon Diggins,Clare Mahoney,Robert Searl,Michael Botha,Gaby de Haan,Kyle Koekemoer,Jenna Lange,Andrew Rice,Tristan Rose,Owen Shearer,Geoff Kock,Massimo Meneghetti,George Atkins,Meltem Baytok,Jacopo Massaretti,Harry Platford,Birgir Tryggvason,Stephen Webster
Series Special Effects by	Brendon Groenewald,Jordan Le Roux,Eric Mtshilibe,Mark Turner,Calen Van Schalkwyk
Series Visual Effects by	Megan Bagshaw,Michael Illingworth,Tamzyn-Lee Johannes,Wicus Labuschagne,Marcus Millichope,Megan Portnoi,Jonty Pressinger,Laura Usaite,Alain De Klerk,Joshua Gotto,Frantisek Vaclavek,Jonathan Alenskas,Theo le Roux Preis,Raymond Volker,Peter Chibumba,Dries Du Preez,Movaine Govender,Paul Kalil,Paul Phippen,Marta Paixão de Cáceres,Justin Francis-Mcleish,Fraser Murdoch,Eileen Peng,Marios Theodosi
Series Stunts	Anneli Muller,Dan Hirst,Darrell Mclean,Tuks Tad Lungu,Thembalethu Ntuli
Series Camera and Electrical Department	Wynand Basson,James F. Blyth,Anees Diedericks,Apiwe Diko,Llyr Evans,Khaya Fokwana,James Frater,Craig Griffin,Jinny Gunuza,Edrich Hollis,Brittany Hurrell,Mbuyiselo Jantjies,Zane Kassiem,Mike Laureys,Sarah Macleod,Mafika Masombuka,John Mckay,Ben Mitchell,Travers Randall,Waseem Richards,J.P. Ridgway,Tobias Schoneveld,Clive Shirlaw,Tasmyn Shirlaw,Dan Sigobongo,Michael Swan,Akash Tuli-Phakey,Coco Van Oppens,Patrick Vrieslaar,Rudger Faber,John Hokke,Leon Willis,Lunga Mtsi,Casey Crafford,Arno Durandt,Desmond Gqitekaya,Morgan Rees,Luuk Schmitz,Adriaan van de Polder,Thaakir Ackerman,Brandon Daniels,Lester Plant,Erik de Wildt,Patrick King
Series Casting Department	Sonia Allam,Shanay Jacobs,Jackie Mayou,Christa Schamberger
Series Costume and Wardrobe Department	Kerry-Anne Barnard,Susan Barras,Jodi Bowers,Kitty Carin-Boyd,Amy Druce,Thabisa Mkonto,Terence Norman,Mandy Smit,Rafeeq Williams
Series Editorial Department	Richard Cradick,Lucy Gaymer,Chris Rodgers,Thialy Sow,Mieke Vlaming,Victoria Webbley,Tine Lykke Jensen,Aldine Bronkhorst,Emily Morrison
Series Location Management	Johan Van der Walt,James Yeats,Thijs Bolle,Gray Sinclair,Fernand Arnold Laubscher,Tim Jolly,Paul Marbus,Dino Denton
Series Music Department	Martin Thornton,Jeremy Murphy
Series Script and Continuity Department	Bronwyn de Beer,Catriona Renton
Series Transportation Department	Wendy Croad,Ashley Jeffery,Grant Kilian,Niki Schutt,Dave Williams,Kenzo Overbeeke
Series Additional Crew	Riaan Cordier,Jan Du Toit,Valerie Legrain-Doussau,Dominique Mabille,Carl Rocky Mason,Janes Meyer,Asif Narker,Philane Ndaba,Alison-Jane Roney,Jessica Shell,Lindsay Skinner,Marisa Soneman,Ulf Suhrmuller,Jessica van Tonder,Michael Kenneth White,Michael Fussell,Brian Wentzel,Atli Gunnarsson
Genres	Action, Drama, Mystery
Companies	Film Afrika Worldwide, Two Brothers Pictures
Countries	UK
Languages	Lingala, Swahili, French, English
ContentRating	TV-MA
ImDbRating	6.9
ImDbRatingVotes	10083
Keywords	krimi,witch,psychotronic series,vengeance,firearms