DQ100 2024/25 – Part three

DQ100 2024/25 – Part three


By DQ
October 29, 2024

DQ100

In the third part of the DQ100 2024/25, DQ picks out a range of shows to tune in for and the actors, directors and writers making them, as well as some of the trends and trailblazers worth catching up with.

ACTORS

Benjamin Wainwright
The Belgravia: The Next Chapter actor will take the lead in Maigret, the first contemporary adaptation of Georges Simenon’s beloved novels about streetwise Parisian detective Julies Maigret. Masterpiece PBS and producer Playground are collaborating on the series, which is filming in Budapest. Stefanie Martini (The Gold) has been cast as Maigret’s wife Madame Louise Maigret.

Tessa
The Danish rapper makes her acting debut in SOSU, playing the rebellious Sille in a series that follows the SOSUs (social and health assistants and helpers) who provide care to people living in Copenhagen but are under pressure from tight schedules and internal turmoil. Sille comes under scrutiny when she starts in home care and is trained by the experienced Rie (Iben Hjejle), while Rie has made a deal with team leader Patrick (Zaki Nobel Mehabil) to take over his job if she helps him to get promoted and cover up his mistakes. But when Patrick abuses his power, will Rie protect him or stand up for Sille? The series is produced by Nordisk Film Production for Denmark’s TV2, and is due on air in 2026.

Sharon D Clarke
Clarke’s near 40-year career began with roles in The Singing Detective, Children’s Ward and Waking the Dead, before she appeared in more than 100 episodes of medical series Holby City. She’s since had roles in Doctor Who, Showtrial and Lost Boys & Fairies, and this year leads two more series: Mr Loverman and Ellis. Mr Loverman sees her star opposite Lenny James in Fable Pictures’ BBC adaptation of Bernardine Evaristo’s novel about Barry (James), a 70-year-old Antiguan-born, exuberant personality who has been married to Carmel (Clarke) for 50 years. But while she suspects him of cheating on her with other women, he has actually been involved in a secret, decades-long affair with his best friend Morris. Then in Ellis, Clarke plays the title character in a three-part series that follows tenacious cop DCI Ellis, who is parachuted into failing investigations. As a black female cop, Ellis is used to being dismissed and overlooked, but she is a first-class murder detective, with a determination for justice and a deep well of compassion for those who need it. The show is produced by Company Pictures for Channel 5 and Acorn TV.

Shaun Evans
Life post-ITV detective spin-off Endeavor is turning out to be busy for Evans, who has a number of projects in the works. They include Until I Kill You, an ITV drama from World Productions that tells the true story of Delia Balmer (Anna Maxwell Martin), who survived a near-fatal relationship with murderer John Sweeney (Evans). He will also star in ITV espionage thriller Betrayal, playing a spy trying to avert a serious and dark threat to national security while making sense of his own place in the world. Produced by Mammoth Screen, filming is due to begin in 2025.

Sarah Snook
The Succession star is following up the hit HBO series with the lead role in All Her Fault. Produced by Carnival Films (Downton Abbey) and directed by Minkie Spiro, the suburban thriller is based on Andrea Mara’s book of the same name, which opens with a plausibly terrifying situation that eventually unearths the deep secrets of a community. Marissa Irvine (Snook) arrives at 14 Arthur Avenue expecting to pick up her young son Milo from his first playdate with a boy at his new school. But the woman who answers the door isn’t a mother she recognises. She isn’t the nanny. She doesn’t have Milo. And so begins every parent’s worst nightmare. Megan Gallagher (Wolf) is the creator and writer.


DIRECTORS

Ahmed Abdullahi
Abdullahi (Top Dog) directs A Life’s Worth, a six-part series inspired by real events within the Bosnian conflict in the 1990s. In autumn 1993, amid the devastating turmoil unfurling in Bosnia, Swedish UN soldiers embarked on a perilous mission to bring peace to a fractured land. The series follows the journey of a group of young soldiers and their commander as they struggle with the complexities of war. The show is produced by Sweden’s Jarowskij/Yellow Bird for Arte France and Viaplay Content Distribution.

Javier Fesser
Disney+ show Custodia repartida marks the first television series from Fesser (Campeones, Bienvenidos). The eight-episode Spanish comedy-drama explores what happens when Cris (Lorena López) and Diego (Ricard Farré) decide to separate, but neither can afford to live alone and take care of their five-year-old daughter. When they are forced to each return to their parents’ homes, what started out as an amicable break-up starts to deteriorate. Created and written by Juanjo Moscardó Rius and María Mínguez, it is produced by The Immigrant.

Julia Ford
Ford (Showtrial, The Bay, Safe) will take charge of the next BBC drama from Time writer Jimmy McGovern. Exploring the impact of sexual abuse and grooming on one family, the as-yet-untitled show centres on the Mitchell family, who are dealing with the devastating aftermath of an act of abuse, and the knowledge that it was perpetrated by a member of their own family who, after serving his sentence, has just been released from prison. Anna Friel, Bobby Schofield, Anna Maxwell Martin, David Threlfall and Mark Womack are among the cast of the 90-minute show, which is produced by LA Productions. Ford is also a recognisable face on screen thanks to acting roles in Happy Valley, Frankie and Room at the Top, among other series.

Peter Grönlund
Grönlund has partnered with Netflix and production company Ninjahuset for Synden, a Swedish crime series he has also created and written. The drama, due in 2025, centres on perpetually angry and odd but highly intelligent investigator Dani (Krista Kosonen), who is partnered with new police graduate Malik (Mohammed Nour Oklah) to investigate the death of a teenager on the Bjäre peninsula – leading them to become involved in a dark family feud that has been going on for generations. Grönlund’s previous work includes Björnstad (Beartown), a “dark fairytale” about a small-town hockey team and a brutal crime that tears the community apart.

Sydney Sibilia
The Italian director (I Can Quit Whenever I Want, Rose Island) draws on real events for his first television show, Accidentally Famous. Produced by Groenlandia for Sky and distributed by Banijay Rights, it is inspired by the story of Italian pop band 883. In the late 1980s, in the small Italian town of Pavia, teenagers Max and Mauro become inseparable thanks to their love of music, and begin composing their own songs. But when success overwhelms them, will they stick together? Sibilia is creator, writer and director on the eight-part series.


WRITERS

Lucy Coleman
Writer and director Coleman’s first TV series, Exposure, debuted this year on Australian streamer Stan. Produced by Thirdborn and distributed by All3Media International, the psychological thriller stars Alice Englert as Jacs, a photographer who is coming to terms with the death of her closest friend, Kel. Convinced Kel’s death came at the hands of a man, her search for the truth becomes a turbulent, unruly and confronting quest into the depths of present-day grief while reckoning with the past. Coleman wrote all six episodes. Her previous projects include feature film Hot Mess and web series On the Fringe.

Claire Oakley
Oakley made her feature film debut with 2019 mystery thriller Make Up and also directed on Disney+ heist drama Culprits. She is now the creator, writer and lead director on Under Salt Marsh, a Sky original series starring Kelly Reilly (Yellowstone). In the fictional Welsh town of Morfa Halen, a tight-knit community nestled between the mountains and the sea, a one-in-a-generation storm begins to gather out at sea as detective-turned-teacher Jackie Ellis (Reilly) discovers the body of her eight-year-old pupil Cefin. The discovery sends shockwaves through the town and revives the ghost of a cold case three years earlier – the disappearance of Jackie’s niece Nessa, which ended her career. Little Door Productions is producing the series, with NBCUniversal Global TV Distribution handling international sales.

Janice Okoh
Okoh is behind BBC drama We Go Again (working title), a series based on her own play Three Birds, which starred Michaela Coel. The Midlands-set show will star newcomers Chenée Taylor, Kaydrah Walker-Wilkie and Akins Subair as three stubbornly optimistic teenage siblings with a dark secret. When their mother disappears, they will do anything they can to keep it hidden so they can stay together – but as resilient and loyal as they are, can they really outwit the authorities and continue living life under the radar? The Forge Entertainment is producing the drama, which will come to BBC Three and BBC iPlayer in 2025.

Charles Yu
The award-winning novelist leads the adaptation of his own novel, Interior Chinatown, for Hulu and Disney+. The 10-part series of the same name follows the story of Willis Wu, a background character trapped in a police procedural called Black & White. When he inadvertently witnesses a crime, Willis begins to unravel a criminal web in Chinatown, uncovering his family’s buried history and discovering what it feels like to be in the spotlight. Jimmy O Yang, Ronny Chieng, Chloe Bennet and Lisa Gilroy lead the cast of the series, which is produced by 20th Television, Rideback, Participant and Dive. Taika Waititi directs the pilot. Yu’s other TV work includes American Born Chinese, Legion and Westworld.

Ólafur Darri Ólafsson
The Icelandic actor known for roles in The Tourist, The Minister, Journey and Trapped is building a writing career as part of his role in fledgling production company Act4. He is set to showrun Big Brother, a Nordic thriller based on Skúli Sigurdsson’s novel about revenge and justice as a mysterious assailant targets a certain type of victim: sexual offenders who have escaped punishment. A detective and investigative journalist then set out to solve the crimes. ZDF Studios is a partner on the show. Ólafsson’s upcoming projects also see him star in Act4’s first series, Reykjavik Fusion, a restaurant-set crime thriller described as Breaking Bad meets The Bear. Wild Sheep Content coproduces the series for Simmin in Iceland and Arte in France and Germany.


SERIES

The Agency
This adaptation of French series Le Bureau des Légendes (The Bureau) is stacking its cast with A-List talent. Michael Fassbender (pictured), Jeffrey Wright and Richard Gere have all signed on to star in the espionage series, which also counts George Clooney among its executive producers. Fassbender plays Martian, a covert CIA agent ordered to abandon his undercover life and return to London Station. When the love he left behind reappears, romance reignites, but his career, his real identity and his mission are pitted against his heart, sparking a deadly game of international intrigue and espionage. Wright plays Henry, the director of operations and a mentor to Martian, while Gere is Bosko, the London Station chief with a storied past after spending eight years as an undercover agent. Coming to Paramount+ with Showtime in the US and Paramount+ worldwide, The Agency is produced by Showtime in association with 101 Studios, and co-distributed by Paramount Global Content Distribution and Federation Studios.

Ponies
This Peacock espionage thriller opens in 1977 Moscow, where two PONIES (‘persons of no interest’) work anonymously as secretaries in the US embassy. When their husbands are killed under mysterious circumstances in the USSR, the pair become CIA operatives. Bea (Game of Thrones star Emilia Clarke, pictured) is an over-educated, Russian-speaking child of Soviet immigrants, while Twila is a small-town girl as abrasive as she is fearless. Together, they work to uncover a vast Cold War conspiracy and solve the mystery that made them widows in the first place. Produced by Universal Television, the show is created and written by director Susanna Fogel (The Flight Attendant) and David Iserson (Mr Robot).

How to Kill Your Family
Bella Mackie’s novel of the same name gets the Netflix treatment in an adaptation starring Anya Taylor-Joy (pictured). She plays Grace Bernard, who has a complicated family. The product of an affair that her father Simon claims not to remember, Grace and her mother were left to fend for themselves. When her mother dies and she is rejected by the people who should love her, Grace transforms her anger into something useful: killing off this estranged extended family via morbidly creative means. Grace is clawing her way towards revenge and a hefty inheritance, but her mission only pulls her further away from what it is she really needs. Sid Gentle Films (Killing Eve) produces, with Extraordinary creator Emma Moran as the lead writer.

Make that Movie
This six-part Channel 4 scripted comedy is created by Australian comedian Sam Campbell (Taskmaster) and directed by Joe Pelling (Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared). Campbell also stars as a hotshot director who scours the country for everyday people who have an idea for a feature film. He and his team then race against the clock to transform the idea into a film in just three days. Lara Ricote, Aaron Chen, Helen Bauer and David Hargreaves co-star in the Blink Industries project.

Uzal
La Casa de Papel (Money Heist) star Itziar Ituño leads this Spanish series from creator and director Marcos Moreno, produced by Motor Films and Tharsis Films and distributed by MGE. Ituño plays Naja, who follows in her father’s footsteps by seeking quick fortunes by searching for treasures and other get-rich-quick schemes. When she follows him to a remote coastal town in the South Pacific, she finds he has become entangled with a group of local fisherman who, facing economic desperation and unemployment, embark on a daring search for the legendary gold of the Spanish galleon Uzal, which is believed to have sunk centuries ago.


TRENDS & TRAILBLAZERS

Supacell
This action-packed British Netflix drama (also pictured top) about five ordinary South Londoners who unexpectedly develop superpowers proved to be a groundbreaking success when it launched in June as a champion for diversity and inclusion on and off screen. Created and written by Rapman, it boasted a stellar cast led by Tosin Cole and Adelayo Adedayo portraying Black British characters telling Black-led stories for a Black-led production. It also raised important issues surrounding sickle cell anaemia. After the show received critical and audience acclaim, Netflix suitably ordered a second season.

Julie Fernandez
As one of a growing number of access coordinators, The Office actor Fernandez is leading the charge to open up the television industry to deaf, disabled and neurodivergent (DDN) creatives. On shows such as Hijack, Sex Education, Slow Horses and Shardlake, she has worked with executives to ensure those with DDN requirements have their access needs met on and off set, as well as providing training to others to better ensure anybody who wants to be a part of the industry can be.

Split personalities
TV shows can often utilise different perspectives to tell the same story from multiple points of view. The Affair is just one recent example, as the Showtime series charted an affair through the eyes of both waitress Alison (Ruth Wilson) and teacher Noah (Dominic West). This year the storytelling device was used in The Gathering, a Channel 4 series that explores the build-up to an attack on a teenage girl, with each episode following a different character and exposing their own potential motives for committing the assault. Upcoming German series Hundertdreizehn will tread a similar path, with each episode of the ARD/ORF show looking at the impact of a devastating traffic accident on a different main character to provide a multi-perspective view of the crash and its far-reaching consequences.

Back on the case
A couple of famous investigators have been revived as classic crime procedurals continue to find new favour after a period out of fashion. Bergerac (pictured) stars Damien Molony as the Jersey-based detective made famous by John Nettles, in a contemporary new series coming to UKTV’s U&Drama from BlackLight TV in 2025. Meanwhile, 1980s legal drama Matlock has been given a fresh take with Kathy Bates playing a new version of the witty, strong-willed lawyer who just happens to share her surname with the famous TV detective – a joke that puts some distance between the two series. The updated version is made by CBS Studios for the CBS network and Paramount+.

Pobol y Cwm (People of the Valley)
The Welsh-language soap marks its 50th anniversary this year, making it the longest-running daily drama produced by the BBC – it’s 11 years older than its television cousin, EastEnders. Originally only set to run for 10 episodes, its popularity proved to be key to the establishment of a Welsh-language channel, and when S4C started transmission in 1982, Pobol y Cwm took centre stage in the schedules. The series premiered on October 16, 1974, in a twice weekly evening slot on BBC Wales, and over the years it has seen its fair share of family rows, adultery and death in the small fictional Welsh town of Cwmderi, in the heart of the South Wales valleys. Several actors have gone onto stardom after appearing in the series, including Ioan Gruffudd (Fantastic Four), Iwan Rheon (Game of Thrones) and Alexandra Roach (Nightsleeper).

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