Acclaimed British writer Jimmy McGovern continues his prison-set drama Time with a three-part season set in the restless and unrelenting world of a young offender institution. DQ speaks to him, co-writer Samuel Bailey and director Paul Whittington about making S3 and why young people behind bars are in crisis.
Australian star Hunter Page-Lochard turns writer for the first time with crime drama Fortitude Valley. He joins showrunners Leigh McGrath and Stephen M Irwin to tell DQ how they developed this upcoming ABC series, which also shines a light on Brisbane’s history and stunning landscapes.
Coming soon to audiences in the UK and Australia, Careless is the story of a young man who befriends a couple while working as their carer. But what is his hidden motive? DQ heads to Glasgow to watch filming on this provocative four-part thriller set between the Scottish city and Sydney.
FIRST LOOK: Sharon Rooney and Emmett J Scanlan star in An Impossible Way to Die, a six-part thriller about a local detective thrust into the spotlight of a high-pressure murder investigation. It will air on 5 in 2027.
DS Katie Salter (Rooney) is happily solving everyday crimes until fate drags her into an impossible murder mystery. Four people sat around a table seemingly set for a dinner party – except they are all dead. The only clue is a scorpion crawling out of one of the victim’s mouths…
Salter is smart, diligent and committed to her family, but tensions quickly surface when she is partnered with DI Niall Conway (Scanlan), lead investigator on the case. Salter’s measured, grounded approach clashes with Conway’s all-consuming dedication to the job. At first, the two detectives appear fundamentally incompatible.
Yet, as the investigation deepens and the pressure intensifies, Conway begins to recognise the value of Salter’s empathy, optimism, and instinctive understanding of people. As the case grows increasingly impossible, secrets are unearthed and conspiracies emerge, lives are put at risk as the detectives race against time to connect seemingly disparate cases and unmask a killer before it’s too late.
Further cast includes Lois Chimimba, Jonny Lavelle and Ashley McGuire.
Exploring themes of identity, protection, power and corruption, the original series is produced by Clapperboard Studios (The Game, Girl Taken, Cooper & Fry) for 5, with DCD Rights handling international distribution.
The series is executive produced by Clapperboard MD Mike Benson and Myf Hopkins (Little Disasters, The Castaways) for Clapperboard Studios, and produced by Amber Howorth (Legends, When Joan Kissed Barbara). Adam Wimpenny (Hotel Portofino, Madonna & Basquiat) joins as director.
Writers include newcomers Robin Ganderton and Rowena Johnson, who have penned Episodes 1 and 5. Ciara Conway (The Teacher 3, Granite Harbour) has written Episodes 2 and 6, Jillian Mannion (Blood, Sex & Royalty, Death in Paradise) has written Episode 3, and David Persiva (The Teacher 3) has written Episode 4.
An Impossible Way to Die is expected to air on 5 in 2027.
tagged in: 5, An Impossible Way to Die, Clapperboard Studios, DCD Rights
Creator Stefanie Ren explains how her German-Chinese roots shaped horror mystery House of Yang, while stars Purnima Grätz and Andrea Guo discuss what the series could mean for Asian representation on German television.
FIRST LOOK: Mark Lewis-Jones and Steffan Rhodri head the cast of The Last Detectives, an upcoming BBC police drama set against the backdrop of Tenby and the Pembrokeshire coastline in Wales.
The six-part series follows a team of detectives led by DI Glyn Walsh (Jones) and DS Sion Dearden (Rhodri), investigative partners whose instinctive understanding of one another proves invaluable as they navigate a success of murders with unexpected twists and long-buried secrets lurking beneath the town’s picturesque surface.
The detectives are joined by DC Remy Jones (Bethan Mary-James), DC Neil Miller (Jordan Davies) and forensic biologist Pamela Thomas (Julie Graham).
With each case spanning across two episodes, the drama explores themes of new beginnings and second chances as the team confront fresh challenges, personal crossroads and truths that refuse to stay buried.
Formerly known as Old Town Murders, the series is written, created and executive produced by Matthew Barry (Men Up, The Guest) and produced by Quay Street Productions for BBC iPlayer and BBC One in a co-commission with BBC Cymru Wales.
Davina Earl (Men Up, The Guest) and Nicola Shindler (Fool Me Once, Tip Toe) are executive producers for Quay Street Productions, with Rebecca Ferguson as executive producer for the BBC and co-commissioner alongside Nick Andrews for BBC Wales.
Hannah Daniel (Mudtown, Burial) writes episode 4. Andy Newbery (Heartstopper) directs episodes 1-4 and is executive producer while Rhys Carter (Mudtown) directs episodes 5 and 6. Guy Hescott (Run Away, The Red King) is series producer.
The Last Detectives is distributed internationally by ITV Studios.
tagged in: BBC iPlayer, BBC One, ITV Studios, Matthew Barry, Quay Street Productions, The Last Detectives
As production wraps on upcoming BBC drama Open Water, writer-director Caleb Azumah Nelson discusses adapting his own novel, the love story at its heart and learning to embrace filmmaking as a collaborative art.
War creator George Kay and director Ben Taylor reveal how they built Sky and HBO’s high-stakes legal drama, while stars Phoebe Fox, James McArdle, Nina Sosanya and Pip Torrens discuss the rivalries at its heart.
FIRST LOOK: Anna Friel stars in The Heights, an adaptation of Louise Candlish’s novel of tragedy and revenge coming soon to 5 in the UK.
Friel plays Ellen, a working mum happily living in London and devoted to her family and fiercely protective of her children. But when her teenage son Lucas (Kit Redding) brings home new friend Kieran (Conrad Khan), cracks began to appear in Ellen’s family life.
Kieran is rude, reckless and manipulative – leading Lucas astray. As Lucas falls deeper under Kieran’s influence, Ellen becomes increasingly desperate to protect him — but a devastating tragedy leaves her consumed by grief, rage and a growing obsession with the truth.
The cast also includes Diarmuid Noyes as ex-husband Vic, Stephen Tompkinson as Ratcliffe, Mark Stobbart as Justin, Charis Agbonlahor as Prisca, Natasha Raphael as Freya, Yasmine Odofin as Jade and Jolly Abraham as DI Wilson.
The six-part series comes from Clapperboard Studios and is distributed internationally by Fox Entertainment Global.
Candlish is an executive producer alongside Kate Croft and Mike Benson, with Emma Foley as producer for Clapperboard. Simon Tyrrell is the writer, with Dominic Leclerc directing.
tagged in: 5, Anna Friel, Clapperboard Studios, Fox Entertainment Global, Louise Candlish, The Heights
After five seasons of bringing warmth and humour to the police drama genre, Hope Street is heading to the big screen. Creator Paul Marquess tells DQ how a casual conversation became One of Our Own – a feature-length sequel tackling prejudice while preserving the Northern Ireland-set show’s gentle spirit.
FIRST LOOK: Matthew Macfadyen and Charlie Hunnam are pictured for the first time in upcoming BBC and MGM+ drama Legacy of Spies, as filming wraps on the espionage thriller.
Macfadyen stars as George Smiley and Hunnam is Alec Leamas in the eight-part drama, which adapts John le Carré’s The Spy Who Came in from the Cold while also drawing on additional material from his 2017 novel A Legacy of Spies.
It marks Smiley’s long-awaited return to television and the first time he has led a TV drama series since Alec Guinness played the character in Smiley’s People.
The cast also includes Daniel Brühl, Devrim Lingnau Islamoğlu, Agnes O’Casey, Felix Kammerer, Dan Stevens, Jake Dunn, Anjana Vasan, Charlotte Ritchie, Joe Alwyn and Hugh Laurie.
When Alec Leamas, a highly experienced Circus field operative, recruits Doris Quinz (Islamoğlu), a young and dynamic East German woman, to smuggle high-value Stasi documents into the West, it sets in motion a series of events that threaten to explode in the crucible of Cold War Berlin.
Pursuing Leamas and Doris are Josef Fiedler (Brühl) and Hans-Dieter Mundt (Kammerer), two Stasi operatives whose ferocious desire to shut down the intelligence leak is matched only by their internal rivalry and an iron will to outmatch each other.
Pulled into the action is Liz Gold (O’Casey), an idealistic young woman whose courage and conviction force Leamas to navigate a world where loyalties fracture and betrayal is inevitable.
Behind the scenes, the brilliant and taciturn spymaster George Smiley orchestrates operations while the elusive Soviet mastermind Karla looms in the shadows, setting the stage for a conflict that will define a generation. Personal lives become collateral in a ruthless intelligence war, and as the lines between duty and love begin to blur, every emotion becomes a weapon.
The series was filmed principally in the Czech Republic, with location filming also in the UK and Germany.
It is produced by The Ink Factory, in coproduction with Amusement Park Film and in association with 127 Wall Productions and Paramount Television Studios. The series is written by Stephen Cornwell and Clarissa Ingram. Michael Lennox is an executive producer and is lead director, with Claudia Llosa as second director and co-executive producer.
The executive producers are Cornwell, who is also showrunner, Graham Yost, Simon Cornwell, Michele Wolkoff, Malte Grunert, Chris Rice, Matthew Macfadyen, Charlie Hunnam, Clarissa Ingram, Michael Lennox and Joe Tsai. Susanne Bier and Mike Lesslie are also executive producers. The executive producers for the BBC are Gaynor Holmes and Nick Lambon. Nick Cornwell is executive producer for the John le Carré estate. Sam Costin and Claudia Llosa, are co-executive producers and Nancy Bray is producer for The Ink Factory.
Legacy of Spies is set to launch exclusively on BBC iPlayer and BBC One in the UK, and on MGM+ in the US, Germany, Spain, Italy, Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, Brazil and Spanish-speaking Latin America. The series will also air on SBS in Australia, Sky New Zealand and Sky Switzerland, and Canal+ across France & French-speaking territories, Central & Eastern Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Fifth Season is handling global sales.
tagged in: BBC iPlayer, BBC One, Legacy of Spies, MGM
With The Party coming to ITV next month, World Productions creative director Simon Heath tells DQ about the novel’s journey to the small screen, the leading actor who championed the adaptation, and the reasons the show is something different for the makers of Line of Duty and Vigil.
TRAILER: Dominic Cooper and Romola Garai take the lead in Adultery, a “scandalous romance drama” written by Danny Brocklehurst (Brassic) and launching on ITV next month.
Cooper and Garai star as Tom Kirkman and Beth Brookes, who embark on a love affair after being introduced Tom’s daughter Jess (Leila Khan) and Beth’s son Ollie (Johnny Sanpher), blissfully unaware of their parents’ secret and wrapped up in a young love story of their own.
Meanwhile, Beth’s husband Neil (Matthew McNulty) and Tom’s wife Hannah (Shelley Conn) remain none the wiser, as their partners risk the collapse of their marriages and the lives of both families being changed forever.
The provocative love story raises questions about class, grief and the effects of social media, as it takes the viewer on a rollercoaster story of passion, parenthood and peril, as Tom and Beth embark upon a passionate and intense affair that threatens to uproot their whole lives.
Additional casting includes Andrew Knott as Dave, the ex-husband of Beth’s recently deceased best friend, and James Murray and Charley Webb as Paul and Leah Kirkman, Tom’s brother and sister-in-law.
Adultery is created and written by Brocklehurst. Will Sinclair directed episodes 1-3, and Daniel O’Hara directed episodes 4-6 with Sarah Lewis as series producer. Ben Stephenson, Preethi Mavahalli and Luke Woellhaf executive produced alongside Brocklehurst and Polly Hill for ITV.
Produced by Poison Pen Studios for ITV and STV, the six-part series will launch this October and will be available for streaming on ITVX and STV Player.
The series will be distributed internationally by ITV Studios.
tagged in: Adultery, ITV, ITV Studios, Poison Pen Studios, STV
FIRST LOOK: Toheeb Jimoh and Dujonna Gift star in Open Water, the BBC’s upcoming adaptation of Caleb Azumah Nelson’s debut novel that will debut in 2027.
Jimoh plays Marcus, who works in retail while trying to develop a career as a photographer. Effie (Gift) is studying dance at university in Dublin. From the moment they meet, they feel an immediate, undeniable connection. But, as Marcus soon learns, Effie is in a relationship with Marcus’ friend Samuel.
It’s a boundary that Marcus is unwilling to cross. A shared project, photographing and documenting Black creatives in London, draws them into each other’s orbit, but can their burgeoning friendship resist the pull of desire? They seem destined for each other, their crush evolving into a love that is ocean deep. But love is never enough, and their path towards one another is treacherous.
Described as a “moving story of longing, belonging and the courage to open yourself to love,” the series has recently wrapped filming on location in Birmingham and London.
The eight-part series is made by Mam Tor Productions and B-Side Productions for BBC iPlayer and BBC One. Banijay Rights handles international distribution.
Nelson is the lead writer and director and is also an executive producer alongside Tally Garner for Mam Tor Productions, Matimba Kabalika for B-Side Productions and Rebecca Ferguson for the BBC. The series is produced by Karlvyn Dove. Composer and musician Cassie Kinoshi will create an original score.
Open Water will air on BBC iPlayer and BBC One in 2027.
tagged in: B-Side Productions, Banijay Rights, BBC iPlayer, BBC One, Caleb Azumah Nelson, Mam Tor Productions, Open Water
TRAILER: David Oyelowo, Hayley Atwell, Tom Sweet, Jack Huston and Tomer Capone head the cast of Treasure Island, a new take on Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel coming to MGM+ in the US on October 11 and Paramount+ in the UK & Ireland on October 12, 2026.
When young Jim Hawkins and his fiercely determined mother Bess come into possession of Captain Flint’s legendary treasure map, they are swept into a brutal race for unimaginable riches. Crossing the Atlantic aboard the Hispaniola, Jim enters a world of shifting loyalties, ruthless ambition and deadly secrets, where trust can be as dangerous as betrayal. At the heart of the expedition is Long John Silver, a charismatic and deeply complex survivor whose ambitions challenge every certainty Jim holds. Through treacherous landscapes and escalating conflict, the hunt for treasure becomes a battle between loyalty and ambition that will change them forever.
Oyelowo stars as Long John Silver, Atwell as Bess Hawkins, Tom Sweet as Jim Hawkins, Jack Huston as Aaron Graham and Tomer Capone as Billy Bones.
The series also stars Craige Els as Mr Arrow, Tristan Sturrock as Captain Smollett and Neil Pendleton as Mr Cameron.
Treasure Island is a Paramount+ Original Series in association with MGM+, produced by Playground. It has been created for television by Robert Murphy (Vera, Shetland) and it is directed by Jeremy Lovering (Slow Horses), William McGregor (The Buccaneers) and Paul Walker (Shameless) with Mark Hedges as producer.
The series will premiere on October 12 exclusively on Paramount+ in the UK & Ireland. Fifth Season is handling international distribution.
tagged in: Fifth Season, MGM, Paramount, Playground, Treasure Island
Lara Ricote and Samuel Bottomley play an ex-couple stuck living together in Channel 4’s new romcom Break Clause. They join director Alice Snedden to discuss building chemistry, embracing imperfect characters and crafting a breakup story worth rooting for.
Nearly a decade after the Breitscheidplatz attack, six-part drama Breitscheidplatz 19/12 (Blindspot Berlin) unpacks the events that led to tragedy. Writer-director David Nawrath, co-writer David Marian and producer Simon Amberger speak to DQ about their research, the difficult road to financing and their refusal to offer simple answers.
Director David Pujol talks to DQ about recreating the birth of El Bulli, working with chef Ferran Adrià himself, and telling the story of the restaurant that changed modern cuisine across two intertwining timelines.
With the launch of The Split Up comes a legal drama set in the world of The Split but with new characters, new locations and new dilemmas. DQ speaks to the cast and creative team about following Abi Morgan’s original series and what personal and professional challenges await the employees of Kishan Law.
As UK producer Dancing Ledge Productions marks 10 years of its writer in residence scheme, DQ speaks to CEO Laurence Bowen about the value of supporting new writers, while former participants Emma Sidi and Georgia Christou reveal the lessons they learned from a year up close to the television business.
