Category: IN FOCUS
For better or worse
With season four of Catastrophe set to be its last, creators, writers and stars Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney reveal the secrets of the partnership that drives the hit comedy-drama both in front of and behind the camera.
Keeping it clean
Cleaning Up stars Sheridan Smith as an office cleaner who attempts to clear her gambling debts by entering the murky world of insider trading. Smith, her fellow cast members, writer Mark Marlow and executive producer Jane Featherstone discuss making the six-part ITV drama.
Easy as ABC
The ABC Murders is the latest Agatha Christie novel to be reinvented for the BBC by writer Sarah Phelps and producer Mammoth Screen. The creative team behind the project gathered at Content London 2018 to discuss the adaptation process and casting John Malkovich as Poirot.
Radical thinking
Two friends cause a stir in a small community where global protest movements have barely touched the surface in Systrar 1968 (Sisters 1968). Writer Martina Bigert and producer Emma Åkesdotter Ronge tell DQ about the period drama.
Down the rabbit hole
Launching this Christmas on BBC1 in the UK and worldwide on Netflix, the new version of Watership Down is touted as the first primetime animated drama. The creative team behind the project gathered at Content London 2018 to discuss how the series originated and the challenges they faced along the way.
Skating royalty
A feature-length drama explores how British ice skaters Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean overcame humble beginnings to win Olympic gold. DQ speaks to writer William Ivory and skating consultants Nick Buckland and Penny Coomes about making the ITV film.
Long lost history
The Long Song, based on Andrea Levy’s award-winning novel, brings a untold period of British history to TV. Screenwriter Sarah Williams and director Mahalia Belo reflect on the story’s contemporary relevance and how it blends tragedy and humour within a distorted narrative.
High tide
Netflix’s first original Australian series, Tidelands, is a novel twist on popular mythology. Tracey Robertson and Nathan Mayfield, co-founders of producer Hoodlum Entertainment, tell DQ how the sirens-focused show came together.
Slick production
Writer Adriana Lunardi and director Afonso Poyart discuss making Brazilian drama Isla de Hierro (Iron Island), which follows the rising tensions among workers confined together aboard an oil rig.
No singing allowed
Victor Hugo’s epic novel Les Misérables might be best known for its musical adaptations, but a new small-screen adaptation produced for the BBC and Masterpiece on PBS feels more like a western, as exec producer Bethan Jones and director Tom Shankland explain.
Ripple effect
A year on from winning the C21 Drama Series Script Competition at Content London, Michele Giannusa is on the write track. She tells DQ about the origins of her winning project and offers her advice to this year’s finalists.
Waiting in the wings
The Fall scribe Allan Cubitt and Imaginarium Studios co-founder Jonathan Cavendish have teamed up for the BBC’s latest period drama, Death & Nightingales – a project a long time in the making, they tell DQ.
Shooting Bullets
Alan Sim, executive producer of Bullets, explains why this Finnish series is an example of a high-end show that isn’t afraid to take risks to deliver a drama blending political themes, a complex storyline, flawed characters and shocking twists.
Crime drama remixed
The world of organised crime plays out against the pulsating backdrop of Berlin’s club scene in Beat, the fifth German original series from Amazon. Creator and director Marco Kreuzpaintner reveals how he meshed his love of the city with the issue of organ trafficking.
Homecoming queen
Award-winning actor Julia Roberts makes her television debut in Homecoming, Mr Robot creator Sam Esmail’s mind-bending psychological thriller. DQ hears how they transformed an award-winning podcast into Amazon Prime Video’s latest original series.
Shooting for Mars
House of Cards creator Beau Willimon joins the space race with Channel 4 and Hulu coproduction The First, but as DQ discovers, this eight-part drama keeps its feet firmly on the ground.
Mind the Gap
The creators of Screentime miniseries Pine Gap reveal how they recreated the eponymous Australian/US defence base and explain why it makes the perfect backdrop for drama.
Starting over
Castle star Nathan Fillion and showrunner Alexi Hawley reunite in ABC drama The Rookie. They tell DQ about creating a series that aims to break the formula of network cop series.
So Kawaii
The Japanese phenomenon of ‘kawaii’ comes to television in Nippon TV’s 10-part drama Way Too Kawaii, starring Yudai Chiba. Producer Arisa Mori tells DQ about this millennial craze and how it was used as the backdrop for this fish-out-of-water story.
The talking dead
French crime procedural Balthazar introduces a forensic pathologist with an unusual talent. DQ hears more about the six-part drama from producer Stephane Marsil and co-writer Clothilde Jamin.