'Reunion' Brings a New Bilingualism to the BBC

We've been covering the Welsh language and culture resurgence in the last few months as the Cymraeg 2050 project has started altering the U.K. TV landscape. But we would be remiss if we did not also note another surprising bilingualism that's been recently embraced by the BBC and others: British Sign Language. Deaf actors are nothing new on television, but this year only, ITV and the BBC have released two competing shows that blow the stereotypes around Deaf culture out of the water. Code of Silence (which will stream in the U.S. on BritBox later in 2025) takes the "odd couple mystery solvers" trope, with one of them being Deaf. Now, the BBC has premiered Reunion, about a Deaf inmate's revenge.

Like Film Club, which only recently managed to escape limbo at the BBC, Reunion was part of the massive slate of dramas commissioned in early 2024. At the time, it merely stated the series would be from Deaf writer William Mager about someone unable to fully integrate into the hearing world and shunned by the Deaf community. Filming began in May 2024, announcing that the series was "an emotional thriller of revenge and redemption" of Daniel Brennan, "a deaf man determined to unravel the truth behind the events that led him to prison."

Mager said in a recent interview with the BBC that he originally wrote the script from "a place of anger" after only ever seeing Deaf characters on TV portrayed as helpless victims. But it turned into a love letter of sorts, with Mager saying he worked to highlight that "sign language is not just one thing. Sign language can be used in different ways," Mager said. "Some people sign and speak at the same time, and some use sign language solely. Others will use SSC (Scottish Sensory Centre) and add in elements of gesture. I wanted to show the variety of communication methods that deaf and hard-of-hearing people use."