HBO’s ‘Industry’ Dives Into the World of London’s Hard-Partying Hotshot Bankers

Cash is king for the hard-partying hotshot bankers of HBO’s Industry.

Up-and-coming financial whiz kids compete, canoodle and at times conspire in this soapy drama set at a prestigious London investment firm. “What do you want when you’re fresh out of college? Long nights, heady romances, adrenalized moments you won’t forget,” explains Konrad Kay, cocreator with fellow finance vet Mickey Down.

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They give viewers a vicarious thrill via the newly hired batch of future Gordon Gekkos at the fictional Pierpoint & Co. One standout: American transplant Harper Stern (Myha’la Herrold), who has something to prove — and something to hide. (Why hasn’t she produced her college transcripts for the company file?)

“Harper is wildly ambitious. She lies casually, some will say too easily,” Kay notes. She and her fellow recruits work 100-hour weeks and endure soul-crushing pressure to perform for demanding clients.

(Credit: Amanda Searle/HBO)

Plus, what Kay calls “juicy desk politics” are at play, leading the rookies to let loose after hours in sometimes self-destructive ways. In the first episode, directed by Girls‘ Lena Dunham, it proves too much for one of them. According to Down, the question is whether the job “ultimately benefits or corrodes them.”

Industry, Series Premiere, Monday, Nov. 9, 10/9c, HBO