Category: THE WRITERS ROOM
Specially maid
Spanish series Arde Madrid imagines the relationship between Hollywood star Ava Gardner and Argentine dictator Juan Perón, as revealed through the eyes of a maid and a chauffeur. DQ meets writers and directors Paco León and Anna R Costa.
Dealing with expectation
Taís and Pedro face some life-changing decisions when they discover they are about to become parents in Brazilian series Pais de Primeira (First-Time Parents). Writer Antonio Prata tells DQ how the series was born.
Souped up
In French drama Soupçons (Torn), childhood sweethearts rekindle their love — but at what cost to their families? Co-writer and director Lionel Bailliu tells DQ about the romantic thriller.
Pol position
As Poldark returns for its fifth and final season, series creator and writer Debbie Horsfield tells DQ how the period drama departs from its source material and outlines her approach to bringing the saga to a close.
Eco trip
Greenpeace, WWF and the UN are among the supporters of Brazilian drama Aruanas, which charts the work of environmental activists who investigate the suspicious activities of a mining company in the Amazon rainforest. DQ meets creator, writer and director Estela Renner.
Knight to remember
Speaking at Canneseries, Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight looks back on his career and discusses how he became a screenwriter, working in Hollywood and why television is the place to be.
Marriage of con-venience
Danish writers Thor Bjørn Krebs and Mikkel Serup talk to DQ about the making of their crime drama Pros & Cons, in which a couple seek to spice up their lacklustre marriage by returning to their former lives as con artists.
Finnish with a flourish
Crime and religion clash in Finnish drama Kaikki Synnit (All the Sins), the first scripted television project for award-winning writers Merja Aakko and Mika Ronkainen. DQ finds out how they pulled it off.
Developing Trust
Dan Sefton, creator and writer of BBC miniseries Trust Me, talks about the show’s evolution into an anthology after losing its star and explains how the second season has been inspired by the work of Alfred Hitchcock.
Writing The Widow
Writer brothers Harry and Jack Williams discuss the origins of The Widow, the globetrotting ITV drama starring Kate Beckinsale in her first TV role in more than two decades.
Driving Mr Jones
Award-winning playwright Tim Crouch has teamed up with actor and longtime friend Toby Jones to write Don’t Forget the Driver, a dark comedy-drama starring Jones as a coach driver whose mundane life is thrown into chaos.
Super Strong
George Moura and Sergio Goldenberg, writers of Brazilian ‘superseries’ Onde Nascem os Fortes (Land of the Strong), talk about how the country’s unique landscape inspired this story of love and tragedy.
Fighting back
Maria Camargo, lead writer of Brazilian drama Assédio (Harassment), tells DQ about the real-life themes and issues that inspired this series about a group of women who stand up to the doctor who sexually abused them.
Party politics
Swedish drama Den Inre Cirkeln (The Inner Circle) mixes political intrigue with personal dilemma as an ambitious minister plots his rise to the top. Writer and director Håkan Lindhé tells DQ about creating the series, which leaves the corridors of power for an altogether more hedonistic setting.
Taking a Fall
Insoupçonnable writer Virginie Brac explains how this adaptation of British crime thriller The Fall, which follows an investigation from the perspective of the individuals on both sides of the law, was reimagined for a French audience.
By the book
With UFO sightings and ‘fake news’ dominating the US news agenda once more, History’s latest scripted commission Project Blue Book couldn’t be better timed, according to writers David O’Leary and Sean Jablonski.
Pier pressure
Alex Pina and Esther Martinez Lobato, the creators of Spanish mystery La Embarcadero (The Pier), discuss making the series – their follow-up to 2017 breakout hit La Casa de Papel (Money Heist).
Feeling Sick
Karl Pilkington co-created, co-wrote and stars in his first comedy drama, Sick of It, in which he plays a version of himself whose closest friend is his uncensored alter ego. He and director Richard Yee, Pilkington’s fellow co-writer and co-creator, reveal all to DQ.
Killing it
As US espionage thriller Killing Eve lands in the UK, DQ hears from lead writer and executive producer Phoebe Waller-Bridge about refreshing the genre, infusing drama with comedy and the joy of writing.
Bridge’s end
Camilla Ahlgren, head writer of The Bridge, opens up about the hit Swedish/Danish crime drama and reveals some of the secrets behind making the series.