Category: IN FOCUS
Working it out
French comedy-drama Toutouyoutou (The Aerobics Project) blends espionage with the keep-fit revolution in 1980s Toulouse. Creators Géraldine de Margerie and Maxime Donzel and director Julien Patry reveal more.
Something to talk about
Based on Sally Rooney’s debut novel, Conversations with Friends is one of the most anticipated series of the year. DQ speaks to director Lenny Abrahamson and executive producer Ed Guiney about the challenge of following the success of their previous Rooney collaboration, Normal People.
Leading a revolution
Bafta Craft Special Award recipient Triple C is driving change in the TV industry for deaf, disabled and neurodivergent creatives on both sides of the camera. Founder Cherylee Houston and artistic director Melissa Johns tell DQ how they got this far and what comes next.
Life goes on
Life After Life writer Bash Doran and director John Crowley reveal how they juggled flashbacks and narration and avoided period drama clichés in making this four-part BBC series based on Kate Atkinson’s novel of the same name.
Bang on
Bang Bang Baby star Arianna Becheroni and lead director Michele Alhaique discuss the making of Prime Video’s first Italian original drama, in which a teenager discovers she has a unique connection with the mob underworld in 1980s Milan.
Piecing together Fractures
Vitjanir (Fractures) star Sara Dögg Ásgeirsdóttir and producer Hörður Rúnarsson speak to DQ about how themes of science and spirituality clash in this Icelandic drama about a city doctor who returns to the small village where she grew up.
Telling on The Informant
Writer and director Balint Szentgyörgyi joins executives from HBO Max to reveal how they delved into the world of 1980s espionage for his first TV series, Hungarian thriller A besúgó (The Informant).
Eyes wide open
Writer Pete Jackson and executive producer Petra Fried discuss their collaboration on Channel 4 drama The Birth of Daniel F Harris, the story of a sheltered teenager experiencing modern life for the first time.
Journey to the Promised Land
Producer Jochen Laube and director Rick Ostermann discuss their journey making The Net – Promised Land, the second entry in an interconnected series of international stories delving into the murky waters of professional football.
Love & hate
Writer Marie Hafting and producer Kaia Foss reveal their voyage into the world of far-right extremism with Alt du Elsker (Everything You Love), the story of a young couple in love and the secret that threatens to tear them apart.
Thawed hero
Star Katarzyna Wajda and director Xawery Żulawski discuss making HBO Max’s Polish crime thriller Odwilż (The Thaw), which centres on a murder investigation and the search for a missing baby led by a detective facing a personal crisis.
Solving Helsinki Crimes
Based on a series of Finnish novels, crime drama Harjunpää (Helsinki Crimes) introduces a different kind of detective. Star Olli Rahkonen and director Matti Kinnunen discuss how the title character’s empathy and family life balance out the dark crimes he investigates.
Epic proportions
Showrunner Soo Hugh and directors Kogonada and Justin Chon recall the challenge of making Apple TV+’s epic Korean drama Pachinko, an intergenerational family saga spanning three countries and multiple timelines.
Far from home
Writers Thibault Valetoux and Frédéric Krivine join director Jean-Philippe Amar to tell DQ about seven-part drama Sentinelles (Soldiers), a series tackling moral and political themes among a group of young French soldiers in Mali.
Getting to grips with Holding
Author and TV host Graham Norton, director Kathy Burke and writers Dominic Treadwell-Collins and Karen Cogan discuss Holding, their adaptation of Norton’s novel set in a small Irish community where the local police officer faces his first murder investigation.
Bringing Lust to life
Swedish stars Sofia Helin, Anja Lundqvist, Julia Dufvenius and Elin Klinga and the team behind HBO Max comedy Lust tell DQ how they collaborated off-screen to tell the story of four women confronting issues of sex and intimacy in middle age.
Living room nightmare
Writer Simon Ashdown, director Sheree Folkson and executive producer Belinda Campbell invite DQ into Our House, a four-part series that blends thriller and love story to imagine what happens when your home is taken from you.
Learning from Litvinenko
Writer George Kay and producer Patrick Spence give DQ an insight into upcoming true crime drama Litvinenko, which tells the story of police officers investigating the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko and his wife Marina’s fight for justice.
Infiniti and beyond
Writers Stéphane Pannetier & Julien Vanlerenberghe and producer Eric Laroche tell DQ about making Canal+ drama Infiniti, a six-part story that blends science fiction, crime, politics and romance against the backdrop of space.
Identifying The Suspect
Writer Peter Berry and executive producer Jake Lushington preview ITV’s psychological thriller The Suspect, in which Aidan Turner plays a psychologist helping police investigate a suspicious death while keeping more than a few secrets of his own.