ITV digs into Ancient Egypt


By Andy Fry
July 15, 2015

The Writers Room

While US cable channel Spike gears up for the launch of its Ancient Egypt miniseries Tut (July 19), UK broadcaster ITV has announced that it too is planning a Tutankhamun-themed drama. ITV’s production, however, will focus on the discovery of the pharaoh’s tomb by archaeologist Howard Carter and his sponsor Lord Carnarvon. Starting in 1905, four episodes will trace Carter’s early expeditions around Egypt, leading up to the big discovery in 1921.

Guy Burt's previous ITV credits include The Bletchley Circle
Guy Burt’s previous ITV credits include The Bletchley Circle

Tutankhamun will be written by Guy Burt, an ITV favourite who is also penning a reboot of classic horror story Jekyll and Hyde for the broadcaster. Previous collaborations between ITV and Burt include critically acclaimed scripted series The Bletchley Circle, which told the story of a group of female code-breakers during and after the Second World War. (See Burt talking about season two of that project here.)

Something of a writing prodigy, Burt first attracted attention when he published his debut novel After The Hole (later adapted into a movie called The Hole) aged 18. After writing two more novels and securing a first in English at Oxford University, his career moved in the direction of screenwriting. Aside from the above-mentioned projects, he worked on the likes of Murder In Mind, Wire In The Blood and Kingdom. Latterly, he collaborated with Neil Jordan and David Leland on period drama series The Borgias, joining the project at the end of season two and writing four episodes in the third and final season.

And Then There Were None scribe Sarah Phelps
And Then There Were None scribe Sarah Phelps

The new Tutankhamun drama was ordered by ITV director of drama Steve November and controller of drama Victoria Fea and will be filmed in South Africa next winter. Executive producers include ITV Studios’ creative director of drama Francis Hopkinson, who says: “Howard Carter’s discovery of the lost tomb of Tutankhamun is legendary. His all-consuming, obsessive search pushed his friendship with Lord Carnarvon to the brink, whilst the adventurous and extrovert aristocrat poured his inheritance into the excavation.”

In an unusual alliance, but one hinting at the future of content rights management, US cable network Lifetime has come onboard a BBC1 drama based on one of Agatha Christie’s best-known works, And Then There Were None. International sales of the three-part miniseries will be handled by A+E Studios International, which is keen to beef up its drama portfolio.

The writing job has gone to Sarah Phelps, whose early career took her via the Royal Shakespeare Company to BBC soap EastEnders, where she wrote more than 50 episodes. A prolific radio and theatre writer, her other TV credits include The Crimson Field, a short-lived drama about the lives of medics and patient at a First World War field hospital.

Jonathan Nolan
Jonathan Nolan has co-written screenplays such as The Dark Knight

 

Phelps has also proved her novel adaptation expertise with previous projects such as Great Expectations (Charles Dickens) and The Casual Vacancy (JK Rowling). The latter was also an Anglo-American coproduction (BBC/HBO) and came in three parts, securing an audience of 8.8 million for episode one, dropping to 5.95 million for episode three. In all likelihood the new project will go into a similar Sunday evening slot with transmission intended for autumn or winter 2016.

The BBC’s decision to greenlight the miniseries is linked to the fact that this year is the 125th anniversary of Christie’s birth. It is also planning an adaptation of another of her novels, Partners in Crime, although there are no details as yet.

HBO’s star-studded remake of classic sci-fi movie Westworld is gradually moving forward. The project, which will feature the likes of Ed Harris, Anthony Hopkins, Jeffrey Wright, Evan Rachel Wood, James Marsden and Thandie Newton, has just added Borgen star Sidse Babbett Knudsen to the cast.

Lisa Joy broke through as a writer with Pushing Daisies
Lisa Joy broke through as a writer with Pushing Daisies

Scheduled to air in 2016, Westworld is from JJ Abrams’ production company Bad Robot, Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, plus Warner Bros TV and Jerry Weintraub Productions. Writing duties will be shared by husband-and-wife team Nolan and Joy.

Nolan, who will also direct the reboot, is the brother of filmmaker Christopher Nolan. He created crime drama Person of Interest and has co-written screenplays such as The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises and Interstellar with his brother. Joy, meanwhile, broke through as a writer with Pushing Daisies, before going on to write some episodes of Burn Notice. Aside from Westworld, IMDB credits her as writer on an “untitled female superhero Spider-Man movie,” scheduled for 2017. There were also reports in 2013 that Legendary Pictures had paid US$1.75m to secure the rights to a sci-fi movie script by Joy entitled Reminiscence.

Still in the realm of sci-fi/fantasy, there are reports that Luther creator Neil Cross is remaking Sapphire & Steel, a 1970s series about a pair of interdimensional crime fighters sent to Earth to investigate strange happenings. Speaking to the Nerdist Writers’ Panel podcast, Cross called the Sapphire & Steel characters a “proto” version of The X-Files’ Mulder and Scully, and said the show was close to getting a commission from a UK broadcaster. Cross, whose other credits include Spooks and Doctor Who, said he is also working with Darren Aronofsky on HBO scripted pilot River View and on two new one-hour episodes of Luther.

Dan Franck created and wrote Marseille
Dan Franck created and wrote Marseille

Finally, Netflix has confirmed that Gérard Depardieu will take the lead role in its first original French drama. Depardieu will play the mayor of Marseille in a series of the same name. Produced by Paris-based Federation Entertainment, the drama will also star Benoît Magimel as a young politician aiming to depose Depardieu’s character.

Shot entirely in France, Marseille is created and written by Dan Franck, writer of La Separation and Les Hommes de l’Ombre and co-writer of Carlos, which won a Golden Globe for best miniseries. Explaining why he took on the project, Franck says: “Creating a series for an enormous audience and without any constraints will let us push to its limits a story about the Shakespearean theatre of politics, in a city where Alexandre Dumas and Jean-Claude Izzo, among others, have planted many spears.

“Netflix has given us a blank page to create a House of Cards in French that breaks through unspoken hypocrisy. This is a writer’s dream and a great opportunity for French producers and creators to enter a new world.”

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