In production

No laughing matter

Alex Smith, creative director at Big Boys and Stath Lets Flats producer Roughcut, considers the challenge of moving into drama when you’re known for being funny as the company launches Channel 5 thriller Coma.

IN FOCUS

High drama

Showrunner Chris Brancato and director Guillermo Navarro invite DQ to stay at Hotel Cocaine, a crime drama set in 1970s Miami at the time of a huge explosion in the drug’s use and where a hotel manager is pitted in a war between federal agents and his drug-lord brother.

STAR POWER

Under no illusions

Actor and producer Alexandra Rapaport tells DQ about her love of crime series and why she was attracted to playing the protagonist in Swedish supernatural thriller Veronika, in which the title character is haunted by visions that might relate to a recent murder.

Job Description

Gentlemanly appearance

Production designer Martyn John and costume designer LouLou Bontemps escort DQ into the world of The Gentlemen to detail how they created the look and fashion of Guy Ritchie’s series based on his 2019 film.

The Writers Room

Crossing over

Thereza Falcão and Alessandro Marson, the writers behind Elas Por Elas (Crossed Paths), reveal why they wanted to remake this 1980s telenovela for modern audiences and outline how they did it.

The Director’s Chair

Extraction points

Extraktoři (The Extractors) director Roman Kašparovský opens up about the challenges of filming the Czech spy drama overseas and why he chose to ground the series in reality.

STAR POWER

Telling White Lies

Game of Thrones star Natalie Dormer speaks nothing but the truth about the fortuitous circumstances that led her to star in South African crime drama White Lies and how she is building her experience behind the camera as an executive producer.

The Writers Room

Love lessons

Spanish author Noemí Casquet tells DQ about watching her novel Zorras (Tramps) become a television series, the themes behind the story and her own on-screen cameo.

ON LOCATION

Shiv show

DQ visits Dublin to meet the cast of The Dry as they reunite to film the second season of the ITVX and RTÉ comedy-drama about a family’s battle with addiction – and each other.

IN FOCUS

Feeling Invincible

Prime Video’s Invincible is flipping the script on animated series – and superhero adventures. Executive producers Robert Kirkman and Margaret M Dean tell DQ about adapting the original comics, breaking animation boundaries and why the series doesn’t shy away from ultra-violence.

Job Description

Introducing Echo

Stefan Draht, creative director of Sarofsky, walks DQ through the creative process behind designing the title sequence for Marvel Studios’s Disney+ series Echo, which follows the title character on a journey to reconnect with her Native American roots.

The Writers Room

Killer instinct

Death in Paradise creator Robert Thorogood transports DQ to a town in Buckinghamshire for his latest crime drama, The Marlow Murder Club, which is finally hitting the small screen almost a decade after he first tried to sell the idea.

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