Category: IN FOCUS
Fever pitch
Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes turns his hand to the origins of football in his latest period drama, Netflix series The English Game. DQ discovers why it will appeal to fanatics and non-fans alike.
Let the wrong one in
Julie Graham leads the cast of Penance, a three-part psychological miniseries about one woman’s grief and what happens when she befriends a potentially deadly stranger.
Abbey days
With two new shows in the works, Downton Abbey writer Julian Fellowes and executive producer Gareth Neame look back on the period drama’s success and discuss their partnership.
Illuminating drama
A starry cast lights up the screen in The Luminaries, a BBC and TVNZ coproduction based on Eleanor Catton’s award-winning novel. The author, who has adapted her own work, and director Claire McCarthy tell DQ about transforming the book for television.
United Stateless
Hollywood star Cate Blanchett discusses the six-year journey to bring Australian drama Stateless to the screen and explains why more broadcasters need to open up to this type of ‘elephant in the room’ storytelling.
Once upon a time in Vienna
Delve into the mind of Sigmund Freud as Austria’s ORF and Netflix partner for an eight-part series that sees the young doctor test out his unconventional theories while solving a murder conspiracy in 1890s Vienna.
Hunting down Al Pacino
Al Pacino’s first role in a serialised drama sees him play the leader of a gang of Nazi hunters and underlines just how far TV series have come in a relatively short space of time.
Welcome to Paradise
Nordic noir collides with the sunny Mediterranean in Finnish-Spanish drama Paratiisi (The Paradise), a crime series inspired by a community of Finns living on the Costa del Sol.
No fairy tale
French drama Il était une seconde fois (Twice Upon a Time) places a sci-fi twist on a relationship drama, as a man finds he has a chance to win back his ex. DQ meets the cast and talks to director Guillaume Nicloux about his unorthodox style.
To boldly go… again
Alongside the cast and crew of Star Trek: Picard, Sir Patrick Stewart opens up about returning to the lead role after 18 years and explains why this series marks a new direction for the storied franchise.
Welcome to Windermere
The previously untold story of how hundreds of children came to the UK from concentration camps at the end of the Second World War is dramatised in The Windermere Children, a stark and poignant film commissioned to mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.
Shaking up Shakespeare
Reynaldo Gianecchini, one of the stars of Brazilian melodrama Dulce Ambición (Sweet Diva), and director Amora Mautner open up about making the telenovela and its take on the classic Romeo & Juliet love story.
Gold Dust
Danish drama Når støvet har lagt sig (When the Dust Settles) sees a disparate group of characters brought together by a devastating terrorist attack in Copenhagen. DQ finds out why this isn’t another Nordic noir.
Straight from The Heartless
Screenwriter Lucie Barât and her brother, The Libertines co-frontman Carl, are behind a music drama showcasing Britain’s indie scene in the early noughties. DQ spoke to the siblings about developing the show with RubyRock Pictures’ Zoë Rocha.
Lights out
Philippe De Schepper, showrunner of Belgian drama Blackout, and producer Helen Perquy take DQ inside this thriller set at a time when the country is plunged into darkness.
Turning the Scrooge
British screenwriter Steven Knight has reinvented A Christmas Carol for the BBC and FX. DQ speaks to some of the creative team to find out why this isn’t Peaky Blinders meets The Muppets.
Taking responsibility
Documentary maker Nick Holt is moving into drama for the first time with Skins writer Sean Buckley on BBC2’s one-off Responsible Child, based on a tremendously challenging real-life trial of a young boy. DQ met them.
Spectacular viewing
Described as ‘Friends with a twist,’ Israeli drama On the Spectrum has won numerous awards for its depiction of three housemates who all have autism. DQ meets the co-creator and stars.
Missing memories
BBC single drama Elizabeth is Missing offers viewers a gripping mystery as well as profound insight into how living with dementia affects one woman and her family, as writer Andrea Gibb and executive producer Sarah Brown explain.
Back with a vengeance
After a 20-year absence, Rebecca Gibney is reprising her role as forensic psychiatrist Jane Halifax in Australian crime drama Halifax: Retribution. The star and series creator Roger Simpson tell DQ how the show has evolved to meet modern TV viewing habits.