The BBC's latest drama offering, Waiting for the Out, is a totally magnificent piece of television that turns a prison philosophy class into a gripping, moving, and profoundly vulnerable exploration of life's biggest questions. Adapted by the unpredictable talent Dennis Kelly from Andy West's memoir A Life Inside, this six-part series proves that compelling drama can be found in the most unexpected of places.
Philosophy Behind Bars: A Teacher's Torment
At the heart of the story is Dan, a character brought to astonishing life by Josh Finan. Dan is a philosophy teacher who takes a job in a prison, a logical setting for existential inquiry, yet he is arguably more tormented than his students. Haunted by a family legacy of incarceration—his father, uncle, and brother have all served time—Dan is gripped by a crippling fear that he is doomed to follow them. His severe OCD manifests in relentless rituals, including an obsession with his gas cooker, while he is plagued by visions of his estranged, aggressively toxic father, superbly played by Gerard Kearns.
The drama cleverly uses flashbacks to show the roots of Dan's anxiety. A childhood trip to the seaside, soundtracked by his father's aggressive rendition of My Way, descends into bullying, drunken threats, and theft. This 'toxic mix of menace and weakness' is Dan's biological inheritance, a shadow he cannot escape even as he seeks a different path through academia.
Confronting Truths in the Classroom and Beyond
Dan's entry into the prison world is fraught with insecurity, symbolised by his ill-advised purchase of steel toe-capped boots. His students, however, are far from the stereotypical 'rough diamonds'. They are well-read, complex individuals who quickly see through his facade. Particularly formidable is Keith, played by Alex Ferns, an intellectually sharp inmate who amusingly dubs philosopher Slavoj Žižek 'the Billy Connolly of philosophy'. Keith's bullshit detector is acute, and his probing questions pose a genuine threat to Dan's fragile sense of self.
Outside the prison walls, Dan's life is a mess. He burns through relationships and memorably decimates a middle-class dinner party. The emotional core of the series, however, is his beautifully drawn relationship with his brother Lee, portrayed by Stephen Wight. A recovering addict and former prisoner, Lee is comparatively well-adjusted. He has walked in their father's shoes and doesn't share Dan's obsessive curiosity, instead focusing on practical altruism, like mentoring a young addict.
A Study in Vulnerability and Acceptance
Waiting for the Out skilfully avoids patronising clichés. This is not a simple tale of a teacher imparting wisdom to lost souls. Both Dan and the inmates are deeply flawed, using philosophy not as a source of easy answers but as a rock to cling to in a chaotic world. The prison environment is harsh but counter-intuitively tolerant; the only real taboo is judging others. In a poignant moment, a warder notes that Dan is 'living as a closeted heterosexual' after he fails to correct the inmates' assumption that he is gay.
Ultimately, the series is a powerful study in vulnerability. As the prisoners gradually open up in class, so too does Dan. Together, they admit the capacity for change, wrestling with whether we are merely victims of our circumstances or authors of our own stories. With a masterful blend of lightness and heaviness, Waiting for the Out delivers a resonant message: it's never too late to rewrite your narrative.
The complete six-part series of Waiting for the Out is available to stream on BBC iPlayer now.
