Claim: James McAvoy starred in State of Play.

State of Play is a British television drama series , written by Paul Abbott and directed by David Yates , that was first broadcast on BBC One in 2003 . The series tells the story of a newspaper 's investigation into the death of a political researcher , and centres on the relationship between the leading journalist , Cal McCaffrey , and his old friend , Stephen Collins , who is a Member of Parliament and the murdered woman 's employer . The series is primarily set in London and was produced in-house by the BBC in association with the independent production company Endor Productions . The series stars David Morrissey , John Simm , Kelly Macdonald , Polly Walker , Bill Nighy , and James McAvoy in the main roles .   The series was Abbott 's first attempt to write a political thriller , and he initially made the majority of the plot up as he went along . He was prompted to write the series after BBC Head of Drama Jane Tranter asked him whether he would consider writing a piece `` bigger '' than anything he had written so far in his career . The serial was Abbott 's third major writing project for the channel , following Clocking Off and Linda Green . The series was also a major turning point in David Yates ' directorial career , as he began to direct various high-profile television projects following his work on the series .   The six-part series was broadcast on BBC One on Sunday evenings at 9:00 pm from May 18 to June 22 , 2003 . Episodes two to five were initially premiered on the digital television station BBC Four at 10:00 pm on the nights of the preceding episodes ' BBC One broadcast ; however episode six was held back for a premiere on BBC One , so as not to allow the final twists to be spoiled for those who did not have access to digital television . In 2004 , the series ran in the United States on the BBC 's BBC America cable channel . In 2005 , the series was released on DVD by BBC Worldwide , in a two-disc set . Episode one features an audio commentary from Abbott and Yates , and episode six a commentary from Yates , producer Hilary Bevan-Jones and editor Mark Day .   The success of the series and it 's favourable impression on BBC executives led to Abbott being commissioned to write a sequel , before the first series had even been aired . In 2006 , however , a second series appeared to have been abandoned , with Abbott telling Mark Lawson on BBC Radio 4 's Front Row in November that he `` could n't find a way to make the story work '' . In 2007 , Abbott was quoted in The Sun as saying that he was currently writing scripts for a second , six-episode series of State of Play , with John Simm and Bill Nighy reprising their roles ; however no such series has since come to fruition .