From Bronson to Hunger, Starred Up to Scum, and from Screw to Time, the British prison drama is a niche but rarified sub-genre, and one that over the years has given us some of the all-time great homegrown films and TV shows. And into that canon is about to come Wasteman, the buzzy Philip Barantini (Adolescence) produced — and already BIFA award-winning — directorial debut of Cal McMau. Starring The Long Walk's David Jonsson and The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes' Tom Blyth as cellmates from opposite sides of the jailbird tracks, the first trailer for McMau's film tees up a tense watch ahead. Check it out below;
After everything Jonsson went through in The Long Walk, you'd have thought the man had earned a bit of an easier time of it on his next project, but there's no such luck to be found here. As this first trailer for Wasteman — described as "an intense and claustrophobic portrait of a merciless prison eco-system" — shows, McMau's film finds Jonsson's soft-spoken convict Taylor trying to keep his head down and earn an early prison release as the arrival of violent new cellmate Dee (a tatted up, wild-eyed Blyth) threatens to undo all of his hard work at rehabilitation.
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The official synopsis for first-timer McMau's film reads as follows: "After years in prison, in which time his son has grown up without him, Taylor’s parole is approaching. It’s bad timing, then, that new cellmate Dee ropes Taylor into violent inmate rivalries, endangering his fresh start."
Starring two of Britain's most exciting up-and-coming talents, backed by the man behind the year's most talked about TV show, and buzzing with an energy that's already earned it critical acclaim and no shortage of film festival hype, Wasteman looks like anything but a waste, man. Brace yourselves to head behind bars with Taylor and Dee when Cal McMau's directorial debut hits cinemas on 20 February, 2026.