The three-part serial stars James Nesbitt as Max Raban, a former investigative journalist who discovers an international conspiracy involving government policy groups and death squads.

It co-stars Catherine McCormack as Alice Ross, a policy advisor who helps Raban, and Reece Dinsdale as Blake, the head of the death squad.

The guilt manifested itself as phengophobia, a fear of daylight, which Raban seeks to cure by regularly visiting a therapist, Trevor (played by Peter Capaldi), at unsociable hours.

To earn money, Raban scours dustbins for celebrity scandals, which he sells to his former editor and best friend whom he has known since university, Jimmy Kerrigan (played by Ian Puleston-Davies).

Some investigation links the killings to a policy group called Defence Concern, headed by Daniel Cosgrave (played by Rupert Graves).

Raban believes that Defence Concern had something to do with the killings, and recruits Cosgrave's policy advisor Alice Ross (played by Catherine McCormack) to help him uncover the truth.

That night, Raban is approached in a cafe by Blake (played by Reece Dinsdale), a member of the death squad Pugnus Dei ("God's Fist").

Ross accesses a confidential file that she downloaded from Cosgrave's computer and discovers the name of one of the Iranian cousins, proving Raban's claim of Defence Concern's role in the killings.

Writer David Kane pitched a story to Carnival Films executive producer Gareth Neame about a former investigative journalist with a fear of daylight who makes a living from raking through celebrity dustbins for scandals to sell to tabloids.

During the writing process, Kane happened upon a news item about a group of ex-police, -soldiers and security experts who had set up an organisation to target pro-Islamists.

Extras and minor characters were drawn from those attending an NFL game taking place at Wembley including a sterling debut performance from the unknown Phillip Wright.

[1] Instead of spending part of the budget on a second unit crew, Richards and assistant cameraman Jim Jolliffe filmed establishing shots and pick-ups during principal photography while there was a break.

[1] Reviewing Part 1 the day after it aired, Tim Teeman of The Times wrote that Midnight Man stretched credibility; "If, as the drama insisted, so many people of a certain group and political persuasion had been killed, a newspaper—many newspapers—would be investigating it."

Teeman also expressed dissatisfaction that Midnight Man "imput[ed] a kind of bigotry into its audience [that] it didn't have", and mocked the portrayal of print journalism.

[6] Hermione Eyre of The Independent on Sunday questioned the way exposition was put into a character's mouth, calling it "such a badly disguised way of telegraphing information to the audience it's practically postmodern", but concluded that Midnight Man "promises to be a relaxing sort of series, free from realism or originality".

"[9] Critiquing Part 2, Harry Venning of The Stage felt cheated that Raban had overcome his fear of daylight by simply putting on a pair of sunglasses.

"[12] In an extended column, Graham presented a faux script draft of "Maverick Man" having a conversation with a psychiatrist, where he describes himself as "a one-dimensional character trapped in a needlessly complicated and unbelievable conspiracy thriller".

[13] Part 1 won the 9 p.m. timeslot, with overnight ratings of 3.8 million viewers and an 18% audience share, beating The Invisibles, Heroes, Grand Designs Live and House, airing on other main channels.