Simon Pegg Cyber Thriller, New Take on ‘A Woman of Substance’ Part of Channel 4 Drama Slate
U.K. broadcaster Channel 4 has unveiled a slate of six dramas with such stars as Simon Pegg, David Harewood and Sian Brooke. Ollie Madden, director of Film4 and Channel 4 Drama, had in August said he would be doubling Channel 4’s drama budget and its number of commissions to deliver on the broadcaster’s plan to launch new dramas consistently throughout the year. That is a key strategy in Channel 4’s push to become a streaming-first public service broadcaster.
“Our commitment at Channel 4 drama is to make shows which offer a tangible point of difference, shine a light on British society in a thought-provoking and fresh way, and yet are uncompromising in their ambition to entertain. I’m proud to announce this eclectic range of new commissions which embody that ethos, and we’re confident our audiences will love,” Madden said.
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Among the commissions unveiled on Wednesday, Channel 4 announced season 2 of The Undeclared War, a cyber thriller starring Simon Pegg and Hannah Khalique-Brown and, as a new co-lead, Sian Brooke (Blue Lights). Playground Entertainment, Stonehenge Films, and Universal International Studios produced the series written by Colin Teevan, with all episodes directed by Sherlock and Inside Man’s Paul McGuigan.
Also, Jack Thorne (His Dark Materials, The Eddy, Enola Holmes, Joy) has written “his first-ever love story in Falling,” Channel 4 said. Produced by The Forge, the show is described as “a contemporary drama which explores what happens when a woman who has been a nun for most of her adult life unexpectedly falls in love with a catholic priest.”
Also set for Channel 4 is the eight-part series The Rachel Incident, “Caroline O’Donoghue’s hilarious, fizzy look at 20-something best friends in 1990s Ireland and the fallout when both their lives become intertwined with an older professor and his wife.” Adapted from her own novel, she is collaborating on the comedy-drama series with Jen Statsky, co-creator of Hacks.
Meanwhile, Pierre, acclaimed playwright Roy Williams’ series debut, co-written with John Donnelly and produced by The Lighthouse, will star David Harewood, who is also an executive producer on the series. “It’s a compelling portrait of a West London duty solicitor who is barely keeping his head above water physically, emotionally and financially,” Channel 4 said. “A charming, funny dealmaker, he is a brilliant lawyer but one whose desire for truth leads him to unravel a chilling web of institutional corruption.”
Maya, a fresh take on the thriller genre from writer and star Daisy Haggard, creator of Back to Life, and her regular collaborators at Two Brothers Pictures, will take a “darkly comedic look at what witness protection looks like in the U.K.” The project will explore what lengths a mother will go to in order to protect her daughter when the system fails her.
Finally, A Woman of Substance is described as a “bold re-imagining of the Barbara Taylor Bradford novel that was Channel 4’s biggest-ever drama when it was first made some 40 years ago.” Adapted by The Buccaneers showrunner Katherine Jakeways alongside Roanne Bardsley, the eight-part period revenge romp charts the rise of a wronged housemaid who channels her rage over decades to become the richest woman in the world. “With the rise of the so-called ‘manosphere’ and worryingly downward trends around social mobility, this new series feels as searingly relevant as it is rampantly entertaining,” Channel 4 said.
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