'Prime Target' unravels a thrilling mathematical mystery

Thirty years.

This is the amount of time Steve Thompson has been toying with the idea of “Prime Target.”

Thompson came across a photograph of an ancient Babylonian tablet in a math textbook in the early 1990s, when he was teaching mathematics in a British secondary school.

“I did a maths degree and then became a maths teacher,” he says. “So, there’s a huge part of my life which was dominated by mathematics.”

A growing passion for writing plays ended up taking Thompson in a different career direction in the early 2000s, as he moved into television and made a name for himself working on productions including “Sherlock,” “Doctor Who” and “Vienna Blood.”

'Prime Target' unravels a thrilling mathematical mystery

But mathematics always remained a strong interest.

“The possibility of doing a related project was always bubbling away in my mind,” Thompson says. “Particularly something about prime numbers and their potency, and the fact that they almost have a mystical element to them.”

Flash forward to 2025, and “Prime Target” has come to fruition.

The series is streaming on Apple TV+ and follows a brilliant young math postgraduate, Edward Brooks, played by Leo Woodall, who is on the verge of a major breakthrough.

If he succeeds in finding a pattern in prime numbers, he will hold the key to every computer in the world.

Soon, he begins to realize an unseen enemy is trying to destroy his idea before it’s even born, which throws him into the orbit of Taylah Sanders, a female NSA agent, played by Quintessa Swindell, who’s been tasked with watching and reporting on the mathematician’s behavior.

Together, they start to unravel a troubling conspiracy.

The series also stars Sidse Babett Knudsen, David Morrissey, Stephen Rea, Joseph Mydell, Martha Plimpton, Jason Flemyng, Harry Lloyd, Fra Fee and Ali Suliman.

Though the idea had a long germination period, things got kicked into gear in 2018, when the head of New Regency Television, Ed Rubin, formerly of Scott Free, invited Thompson for a meeting to discuss working together.

“He asked me what subjects interest me and I said I’d really like to do a drama about maths,” Thompson says. “Amazingly, he didn’t kick me out of his office, which I half expected him to do. Instead, he said it sounded really original and very interesting.”

Thompson says from that conversation between the two, things began to move quickly.

He says to non-math nerds, the idea of a drama inspired by prime numbers might not sound immediately captivating, but their importance, the thrill of the story becomes clear.

In spite of mathematicians in many cultures spending millennia trying to find a pattern in prime numbers, as far as we know there is no rule. This randomness is why prime numbers form the basis of digital encryption.

But if someone did find a pattern, it would mean that codes could be broken — codes which protect everything from missile defense systems to banks, and therefore the economy. Suddenly, the dramatic possibilities become endless.

“I imagined somebody who was a Ph.D. mathematician at Cambridge, which is my hometown, actually cracking that code,” Thompson says. “And if they cracked that code, their life would change forever because so many governments and corporations would try to hunt them down.”

From this idea, the character of Edward began to emerge — inspired by as many as 30 different mathematicians and students Thompson has known over the years.

For Edward, Cambridge always held a special place in his imagination. It is where Isaac Newton first wrote the laws of calculus. The young mathematician always dreamed of linking hands with those heroes, to finally find his place among them.

Edward’s brilliance makes him oddly enthralling — and while he is undoubtedly a little awkward, there’s a fearless spirit that drives his research and sense of purpose. Nothing seems to compete with the beauty of pure mathematics. He sees complex patterns in everyday images — the rippling movement of water or the murmuration of birds. These patterns have an abstract beauty that deeply fascinates him.

“I actually remember being very passionate about maths in my (high school) GCSE exams and doing well,” says Woodall. “I was quite proud of that.”

Woodall undertook additional classes in mathematics at the start of the project, but quickly realized he wasn’t going to understand everything his character does.

“Honestly, there is not a lot that Edward and I have in common, which is why I wanted to do the role,” Woodall shares. “He is so far from me as a person and so I knew it would be a challenge to get into the mind of someone who is not like me at all.”

Thompson says despite all of these captivating elements of history and mathematics, “Prime Target” is ultimately a tense, action-packed drama, with the feel of a classic 1970s thriller.

He admits that he is a huge fan of the genre and so it is no coincidence that this influence is evident throughout.

“I absolutely love paranoid conspiracy films and in pitch meetings I was always asking if anyone else watched them,” Thompson says.