Category: 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.
Hall of fame
Almost 10 years after BBC historical drama Wolf Hall first aired, its long-anticipated sequel is in production. Playground Entertainment executive producer Colin Callender explains why Wolf Hall: The Mirror & The Light will be worth the wait.
Jetty crime
Firebird Pictures exec Elizabeth Kilgarriff tells DQ about collaborating with Jenna Coleman once again for BBC four-parter The Jetty, piecing together the decades-old mystery with writer Cat Jones and creating a new iconic detective.
Cut adrift
In Finnish thriller Isolated, an island community is cut off from the mainland in mysterious circumstances. Oskari Huttu, head of drama at Lucy Loves Drama, reveals how the production team overcame numerous logistical challenges to film the show.
Reach for the ski
Ski jumping gets the television treatment in a Finnish story about a young woman with ambitions to win gold at the Winter Olympics. Producer Antti Kaarlela talks DQ through the challenges of dramatising this soaring sport for Kriittinen piste (Critical Point).
Making the band
Paper Dolls producers Jessica Carrera and Mark Fennessy reflect on making this eight-part series that follows five singers through Australia’s music industry, charting their emotional highs and dangerous lows as they are catapulted to fame after winning a reality competition.
Absolutely Fabula
Nicola De Angelis, CEO of Italy’s Fabula Pictures, outlines the Zero and Baby producer’s approach to storytelling and discusses some of its forthcoming titles.
CODA conduct
Producer Sakabe Koji tells DQ how the creative team strived for authenticity when making Japanese miniseries Deaf Voice, in which a man from the CODA (child of deaf adults) community working as a court sign language interpreter becomes involved in a murder case.
Inside story
BBC Studios Drama producers Michael Parke and Andrew Morrissey reflect on creating the second season of the BBC’s award-winning drama Time, which tells a new story of survival and community behind bars – but this time in a women’s prison.
Levelling up
Flemish producer Philippe De Schepper reveals how he blended reality and fiction for science-fiction series Arcadia, which imagines a world where people’s quality of life is based on a ‘citizen score’ and explores what happens when one person tries to bend the rules for his family.
A lesson in murder
A teacher travels back in time to discover which of her students killed her in Japanese murder mystery The Greatest Teacher. Producer Tsutomu Suzuki reveals how the show drew on contemporary themes to turn viewers into armchair detectives.
Unlocking accessible programming
Writing for DQ, OUTtv chief operating officer Philip Webb reveals how research on accessibility for audiences translated into the making of the US-based streamer’s comedy-drama Womb Envy.
All Gone
Executive producers Katie Holly and Yvonne Donohoe look back on the making of Irish-New Zealand crime drama The Gone and discuss creating authentic coproductions and upending character stereotypes.
Unmasking Anonymous
NL Film producer Dennis Cornelisse introduces DQ to Anoniem (Anonymous), a Dutch crime drama imagined as ‘Batman of the Netherlands.’
Facing the facts
Sophie Lorain and Alexis Durand-Brault from Québec’s Also Productions take DQ inside their particular brand of storytelling, which they say changes the narrative when it comes to well-trodden genres, and discuss embracing factual drama with their latest series, Désobéir (Disobey) and Mégantic.
Numbers game
B-Reel Films’ Ulf Synnerholm introduces Swedish crime drama Detektiven från Beledweyne (Detective #24) and reveals how this story of two investigators searching for a missing girl feeds into the country’s immigration debate.
Winter (King) is coming
As epic Arthurian drama The Winter King nears completion, executive producers Julie Gardner and Lachlan MacKinnon tell DQ about adapting Bernard Cornwell’s Warlord Chronicles for television, playing with magic and being inspired by The West Wing.
What’s up, docs?
Writing for DQ, Nutopia founder and CEO Jane Root and chief creative officer Simon Willgoss detail the production company’s approach to bringing together writers and historical experts to create the scripted elements for drama-documentaries like their recent Netflix series, Queen Cleopatra.
Making a Killing
As production wraps on upcoming Paramount+ UK drama The Killing Kind, executive producers Paula Cuddy and Eve Gutierrez discuss adapting the Jane Casey novel, changing endings and telling stories for a global audience.
Real steel
Severn Screen’s Ed Talfan tells DQ about the story behind BBC true crime drama Steeltown Murders, which explores the community impact of a decades-old murder case and the pioneering technology used to catch a killer.