As production begins on BBC series Boiling Point, the team behind the five-part restaurant-set drama discuss developing the feature film spin-off and reveal why, unlike the original, it won’t be shot in one take.
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Too hot to handle
Five Minutes With: Tony Grisoni
The Red Riding, Southcliffe and The City & The City writer on his latest projects, working with the European Writers Club and why he doesn’t want to waste time.
That’s my boy
Somewhere Boy writer Pete Jackson discusses how the meeting of the Channel 4 drama’s two key characters shapes the story of a boy who, after growing up isolated and scared of the monsters beyond his door, enters the real world for the first time.
Maternal instincts
Playwright-turned-screenwriter Jacqui Honess-Martin recalls the inspiration behind her first television series, Maternal, and discusses how the final scene of episode one juggled a key character arc with an emotional punch.
Write on
As the winner of the Nordic TV Drama Screenplay Award is announced, read DQ’s interviews with all five nominees, whose work includes series As Long As We Live, Blackwater, Carmen Curlers, Kids in Crime and The Invincibles.
Making accusations
Accused executive producers Howard Gordon and Glenn Geller explain why this Fox anthology series is more than a courtroom drama.
Royal flush
Looper, Star Wars and Knives Out director Rian Johnson has teamed up with star Natasha Lyonne for his first television series, Poker Face. He tells DQ about his love of ‘howcatchem’ mysteries and reviving the classic story-of-the-week format for streamer Peacock.
Blurred lines
The perils and pratfalls of being an entitled millennial inform Iain Stirling’s zippy ITV2 sitcom Buffering. The children’s TV presenter-turned-actor and writer tells Neil Batey all about season two of his passion project.
Series to Watch: February 2023
DQ checks out the upcoming schedules to pick 10 new series to watch this February, from the story of a soap superstar and a diplomatic drama to the reimagining of a classic western.
Walking The Path
Writer Glória Perez opens up about her latest telenovela, Brazilian series Travessia (The Path), and reveals why curiosity is the key to these long-running dramas.
Friendly faces
Actor Damian Lewis and writer Alex Cary open up about their interest in bringing to the screen A Spy Among Friends, based on a true story of friendship and betrayal.
Scene Stealers: The Head
The Head executive producer Ran Tellem and director Jorge Dorado dive into the climactic scene of season two to reveal how the cast ended up adrift in the Atlantic Ocean.
Thoroughly modern Marie
Juliette Ménager, casting director on Marie Antoinette, discusses building the cast of Deborah Davis’s modern retelling of the life of the woman who would be Queen of France, her big break and the secret to good casting.
Casting goals
Siegfried Wagner, head of casting at German producer Bavaria Fiction, talks to DQ about his career so far, building the on-screen ensemble for Das Boot and finding an actor to play football legend Franz Beckenbauer.
Meet The Invincibles
Moskito Television’s Mari Kinnunen and writer-director Matti Kinnunen preview upcoming Finnish financial thriller Rosvopankki (The Invincibles), which blends fact and fiction in a story about the country’s banking crisis in the early 1990s.
Fantasy politics
Stan & Ollie director Jon S Baird tells DQ about moving into television miniseries with ITV drama Stonehouse, partnering with star Matthew Macfadyen and bringing a heightened tone to this farcical true story.
Series to Watch: January 2023
DQ checks out the upcoming schedules to pick 10 new dramas to watch this January, from a new Elena Ferrante adaptation and an Australian mystery thriller to computer game remake The Last of Us and the return of Happy Valley.
Series to Watch: 2023
DQ looks ahead to 2023 and picks out 20 new dramas expected to air over the coming year, from a unique police procedural and a Danish prison drama to a Bridgerton spin-off and a pair of music dramas.
Series to Have Watched: 2022
DQ looks back over the past year of television to pick out 10 series that were worth tuning in for, from a fresh police procedural and a dazzling period adaptation to a cultural phenomenon and a kitchen nightmare.
Music maker
French composer Audrey Ismaël explains how she came up with the music for historical drama Germinal and reveals how starting a band led her to writing music for film and television.