Sticks and Stones

Three-episode drama thriller Sticks and Stones won’t hurt you, but it will help viewers understand corporate bullying and just how difficult it can be to fight back and escape.

It’s by Mike Bartlett (writer and exec producer of 2015’s Doctor Foster: A Woman Scorned) and follows the all-too-familiar stresses of workplace bullying when Thomas Benson (Ken Nwosu) collapses during an important business presentation. Was it medical or did he faint from stress piled on him by his colleagues? No one cares – what is important is that he’s cost people money.

What follows is an intense, dark, gritty look at how cliques can not only force employees to work under unbearable pressure, but also feel guilty if they speak out. It’s not fun and it’s not going to end well because the bullies are relentless. And it’s not always in physical manifestations: passive-aggressiveness and implied meanings do more harm than sticks and stones.

You’ve never been bullied at work? Think again, writes Flora Carr from radiotimes.com: “Within a few minutes you will be watching from behind your hands. It will be toe-curling, it will be anxiety-inducing. With Sticks and Stones, a series that shows the subtle machinations of corporate bullies, Bartlett has once again produced a drama that sheds light on a universal fear.”