Life Is Strange: Tales Of The Powers

Life Is Strange: Tales Of The Powers is a British-French mystery/thriller/adventure/drama series first broadcast on BBC One in January 2022. The series follows Jamie Anderson (portrayed by Mathew Baynton), an 18-year-old anti-social Anglo-Jewry who suffers from cystic fibrosis and general anxiety disorder who discovered that he has psychological powers ever since his best friend was murdered. He studies music and theatre. He teamed up with 5 other students and formed a troupe together after discovering that they also have powers. The series is written and performed by many of the cast members of Horrible Histories, Yonderland and Ghosts.

The series is the first drama by the ensemble, although there is a comic relief character. It is also the second series to be based on an already-existing project performed by the ensemble after Horrible Histories. It would be released on BBC iPlayer in the UK and Netflix worldwide.

Series 1
On October 2009 in a fictional countryside town in Suffolk, 18-year-old Anglo-Jewry theatre student and cystic fibrosis patient, Jamie Anderson discovered that he has psychological powers during his teen years after his best friend, Jayden Harrison died. When he was 11, he had levitation powers, when he was 12, he had time travelling powers, when he was 13, he had empathy, when he was 14, he had telepathy and when he was 15, he had telekinesis. Due to his medical condition and his mental health issues, he didn't know how to control them. He was also bullied by both his brothers and his peers.

During his first day at a local art college, he met his soon-to-be boyfriend, 21-year-old Alex Kenyon when he was studying alone as usual. He met up with his new friends in the troupe, 19-year-old Ashley Maddox, 20-year-old Pat Hendricks, 21-year-old Robin Jackson and 22-year-old Kris Fawcett. Only to discover that they have powers too, Alex with levitation, Kris with time travelling, Robin with empathy, Pat with telepathy and Ashley with telekinesis. The same powers as Jamie. Throughout his time together with his friends, he learns how to control his powers and starts opening up more about his medical conditions and mental healthy issues while they try to solve the murder mystery that hasn't been solved for 9 years.

Series 2
Jamie later came out as gay and started dating Alex. He starts getting more confident and is starting to wear his nasal cannula more due to being insecure about them. However, things at home haven't been going well for him. He was continuously getting picked on by his older brothers and his parents have been neglecting him. Because of this, he felt safer with his friends and boyfriend. Things got so bad, he ended up in the hospital after Alex noticed him passed out in his room because of a high fever.

While staying in the hospital, he discovered a new power neither of his friends have, healing powers. The ability to heal others' injuries. However, due to his medical conditions, he was only able to temporarily heal himself when his breathing issues are bad. Alex stayed with Jamie throughout his stay in the hospital until he was released several days later. He and his friends tried to find answers to why Jamie's own older brother, Arnold, killed his best friend 9 years ago after finding evidence from where Jamie's friend, Jayden was buried though he didn't get a proper burial. Robin called the police and the case was closed after the psychic friends found the murderer and the body.

Series 3
The psychic friends met up again and are now staying together in Cambridge after knowing Jamie's home life. They attended history, art and music courses together until Jamie realised that his brothers were also attending Cambridge. Feeling scared, he wanted to go back to Suffolk because of them. At the same time, he was constantly bullied by other students and was treated badly.

When Jamie and his friends were having a meeting in their common room, Jamie broke down because of the bullying. Alex comforted him as Robin decided to tell the professors about the bullying and Jamie's life living with medical conditions and his mental health issues. His anxiety returned and is constantly having anxiety attacks, even in front of his own friends and his powers are out of control. Later on, it was revealed that Arnold had to study in Cambridge because he needed rehabilitation which didn't go well because he killed another student and is later going to kill Jamie.

Cast
Mathew Baynton as Jamie Anderson, an 18-year-old antisocial art student of Jewish descent who suffers from cystic fibrosis, depression and anxiety among other health problems. He was originally from Essex but moved to East Anglia for his and his brothers education. After dating Alex, he is later revealed to be gay and has been closeted since his teenage years. He is the youngest member of his friend group and the only one who had just reached the age of maturity. He is the main protagonist. He has all his friends powers and healing powers.


 * Mathew Baynton's son, Bo Baynton, portrays 10 and 11-year-old Jamie.
 * Alfie Clarke portrays 12-14-year-old Jamie.
 * Louis Partridge portrays 15-16-year-old Jamie.

Ben Willbond as Alex Kenyon, a 21-year-old art student and an openly gay man who started dating Jamie. He was originally from Buckinghamshire and studied in Oxford prior to relocating to Suffolk. He can speak French and Russian and can play the violin. He is the deuteragonist of the series. He has the ability to levitate.

Martha Howe-Douglas as Ashley Maddox, a 19-year-old art student and the only girl in her friend group. She has been dating Robin since prior to the series. She was originally from Birmingham, West Midlands and studied in London prior to relocating to Suffolk where she met Robin. She is stated to be about a month older than Jamie rather than a year thus showing that they are both the same age. She has telekinesis.

Jim Howick as Pat Hendricks, a 20-year-old art student who is the shortest out of his friend group. He was originally from West Sussex but he relocated to London and then Suffolk for his education. He has empathy.

Laurence Rickard as Robin Jackson, a 21-year-old art student of Irish and German Jewish descent who is currently dating Riley. He was originally from Brighton but he relocated to Suffolk for his education. He has telepathy.

Simon Farnaby as Kris Fawcett, a 22-year-old art student and historian who is the leader of the friend group and tends to be political due to his parents being the members of Parliament. He was originally from County Durham but relocated to Yorkshire and then to Suffolk for his education. He is the only member to be northern. He has time travelling powers, mainly rewinding like Jamie.

Lawry Lewin as Jayden Harrison

Production
Loosely inspired by the video game, Life Is Strange, Mathew Baynton wrote the first draft of the script stating that this would lead to the Horrible Histories troupe's first drama series. Because Horrible Histories first aired in 2009, the troupe decided to set the series in 2009 where their ages will be 10 years younger than the age when Horrible Histories started. The unisex names of the main characters were inspired by the 2 main heroines, Max Cauldfield and Alex Chen from Life Is Strange and Life Is Strange: True Colors having unisex names. The series is entirely filmed in a countryside area of Suffolk. This is because the English countryside is shown to be nostalgic and the Life Is Strange games (specifically the first instalment) are nostalgic. Various themes can be seen throughout the series such as LGBTQ+ themes despite not being aimed at the community, mental health and other mature themes only mostly covered by American teen dramas. Each power Jamie has are randomly used in each episode but the main powers used in Series 1, 2 and 3 are time travelling, telekinesis and empathy respectively.

Trivia

 * The series is set in 2009, before all of the Life Is Strange games