Articles about BBC
Scaling The Serpent
Director Tom Shankland, writer Richard Warlow and exec producers Preethi Mavahalli and Damien Timmer take DQ along the 1970s ‘Hippie Trail’ to reveal the long journey to making BBC and Netflix drama The Serpent.
Building Paradise
As Death in Paradise returns for its landmark 10th season, location manager Rébecca Bering and production designer Eryl Ellis tell DQ about their roles in making the series on the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe.
Master of nuns
DQ reports from the set of Black Narcissus, the FX and BBC miniseries based on the classic novel that screenwriter Amanda Coe describes as “The Shining with nuns.”
Inside man
Star Wars actor John Boyega discusses taking the lead in Red, White & Blue, the third film in Steve McQueen’s Small Axe anthology, which tells the true story of a young black man who joins the police to combat racist attitudes from within.
Axe to grind
12 Years a Slave director Steve McQueen comes to the small screen for the first time with Small Axe, a series of feature-length TV films focusing on London’s West Indian community. He reveals how the long-gestating project took shape and explains how these historical stories look to the future.
Dark days
Executive producer Jane Tranter and writer Jack Thorne explain why the second season of Philip Pullman adaptation His Dark Materials has a different feel from the first and discuss the pitfalls of bringing the beloved book trilogy to the screen.
Creative therapy
Writer Kayleigh Llewellyn and director Lucy Forbes reflect on their Bafta-winning series In My Skin, a coming-of-age drama about a teenage girl living a double life as she tries to hide her chaotic family situation from her friends.
Kiss chase
Mary Poppins Returns star Emily Mortimer opens up about writing and directing The Pursuit of Love for the BBC and Amazon, adapting Nancy Mitford’s novel and why she wanted to fire herself.
The politics of shame
Stars Hugh Laurie, Helen McCrory and Pippa Bennett-Warner join writer David Hare to discuss his four-part miniseries Roadkill, about a shameless politician pursuing his ambitions while others plot to bring him down.
Unhappy holidays
Us director Geoffrey Sax tells DQ how the BBC drama was filmed across Europe to tell the story of a family on the verge of splitting up as they embark on one final holiday together.
Job Description: Military advisor
Paul Biddiss gives DQ an insight into the role that has seen him work on series such as War & Peace, Catherine the Great, Taboo and Strike Back.
Strike’s back
As the fourth Cormoran Strike detective novel adaptation arrives on BBC1, producer Jackie Larkin and director Sue Tully describe the difficulties of filming Strike: Lethal White in 50 locations across a 60-day shoot.
Summoning daemons
Russell Dodgson, VFX supervisor on BBC and HBO fantasy drama His Dark Materials, discusses his team’s Bafta-winning work to create a world filled with dozens of fantastical animals.
Return to Paradise
Crime drama Death in Paradise is back in production, celebrating its 10th anniversary while becoming one of the first British series to start filming after the coronavirus-enforced shutdown. Red Planet Pictures’ Tim Key and Alex Jones tell DQ how they have done it.
A breath of fresh Nair
In her television debut, award-winning Indian filmmaker Mira Nair has partnered with screenwriter Andrew Davies to bring Vikram Seth’s novel A Suitable Boy to the small screen. She tells DQ how she has embraced longform storytelling.
Normal procedure
Normal People director Lenny Abrahamson and executive producer Ed Guiney discuss developing and casting the small-screen adaptation of Sally Rooney’s acclaimed novel.
Turning up the volume on hidden disability
As long-running British medical drama Casualty dedicates an episode to its first regular deaf character, DQ speaks to actor Gabriella Leon and writers Charlie Swinbourne and Sophie Woolley about shining a light on this hidden disability.
Lighting the way
Eva Green, Eve Hewson and Himesh Patel speak to DQ about filming The Luminaries, a tale of love, murder, magic and revenge set in 1860s New Zealand at the height of the gold rush.
Heading East
Producer Kevin Loader and production designer Simon Bowles reveal how the empty sets of British soap EastEnders gave them the opportunity to film Alan Bennett’s acclaimed Talking Heads monologue series during the coronavirus lockdown.
Building The Nest
Bafta-winning writer Nicole Taylor takes DQ inside her thrilling five-part emotional drama The Nest, which has become the biggest new drama launch on the BBC this year.