Five recent university graduates - Harper Stern (Myha’la Herrold), Yasmin Kara-Hanani (Marisa Abela), Robert Spearing (Harry Lawtey), Gus Sackey (David Jonsson Fray) and Hari Dhar (Nabhaan Rizwan) - aim to make their mark on the world by proving their worth and becoming permanent hires at the bank.
Harper, a young graduate from New York is interviewed by Eric Tao (Ken Leung), Pierpoint’s most distinguished MD. Despite having a different background to most of the people on the trading floor, Harper knows that working in a bank, especially Pierpoint, means that she’ll only be judged on strength of her abilities - it’s the best meritocracy there is.
Robert, a young man who uses his good looks and charm to get ahead in life, tries to impress his MD, Clement Cowan (Derek Riddell) -but Clement's refusal to talk to him makes this impossible. Instead, Robert enjoys London’s nightlife of repetitive beats and drugs, something that draws the ire of his superiors.
Yasmin is a young woman who wants nothing more than people to see past her good looks and judge her as the savvy businesswoman she is. Yasmin starts at the bottom, getting coffee and the lunches in for her team, but a thumbs up from her MD, Hilary Wyndham (Mark Dexter) shows that she’s on the right path…
Gus, who studied at Eton, considers Pierpoint to be a mere steppingstone on his path to number 10.
Hari, who will always go the extra length to impress his bosses and prove he’s much more than his state school education suggests.
Gus and Hari vie for the attention of their VP Lucinda (Ruby Bentall) in the hopes one of them will be taken into the pitch for a lucrative new client. Gus’ natural flair for the Investment Banking Division makes Hari feel the need to overcompensate…
Meanwhile Harper is tasked by Eric to start generating business as quickly as possible. An invitation from a VP on her desk - Daria Greenock (Freya Mavor) - to a business dinner with a huge client, Nicole (Sarah Parish), provides the perfect opportunity.
But when the dinner doesn’t go exactly to plan, Harper is left wondering whether she’ll ever make her mark at Pierpoint - a feeling shared by all of the graduates.
In six months’ time, the graduates will have to stand up and say why they should be hired permanently to their desks. The impression they make on clients, the business they bring in and the opinion of their line mangers will all be taken into account. It’s up to each of them to make themselves indispensable...
Industry begins Tuesday 10th November at 9:15pm on BBC Two.
[Via BBC Press]