Articles about BBC
Baptiste’s back, alright
Baptiste star Tchéky Karyo and producer John Griffin discuss the return of Julien Baptiste in the BBC crime drama as the retired police detective picks up a new case that takes him into Budapest’s corrupt underworld.
A life worth living
British actor Rakie Ayola speaks to DQ about her award-winning turn in BBC drama Anthony, which imagines the life 18-year-old Anthony Walker might have lived had he not been murdered in 2005, and explains how she got into character to play his mother Gee.
Us and them
Bafta-winning screenwriter David Nicholls recalls how Us, his novel about a man seeking to repair his marriage during a family holiday around Europe, made the journey to the small screen.
Job Description: Costume designer
Sinéad Kidao, the costume designer on The Pursuit of Love, reveals how she worked with writer and director Emily Mortimer to create the interwar style of this comedic drama based on Nancy Mitford’s novel.
Family viewing
Three Families director Alex Kalymnios and cinematographer Ula Pontikos discuss their work on this two-part BBC drama, which follows the real-life stories of a mother and two women affected by Northern Ireland’s restrictive abortion laws.
Delivering Call the Midwife
Call the Midwife creator Heidi Thomas joins cast members Helen George, Jenny Agutter and Leonie Elliott to celebrate the upcoming 10th season of the period drama.
Acting Normal
Normal People stars Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar-Jones look back on the success of the BBC and Hulu drama, based on Sally Rooney’s bestselling novel, and recall their time on set together.
Saints and synners
As Kay Mellor’s lottery drama The Syndicate returns after a six-year break, the writer and director tells DQ how the BBC series overcame the odds to film in Yorkshire and Monaco during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Job Description: Music supervisors
Juliet Martin and Maggie Phillips discuss working as music supervisors on BBC and Hulu sensation Normal People, explaining how music can enhance drama and highlighting some of their favourite tracks.
Doing their Duty
New recruit Kelly Macdonald joins the cast and creative team of Line of Duty to preview its eagerly anticipated sixth season. Just don’t ask what it’s about.
Chris versus Goliath
Chris Brandon discusses the journey towards writing his first television series, BBC thriller Bloodlands, and partnering with Line of Duty’s Jed Mercurio on this story of a Northern Irish police officer investigating a cold case with huge personal significance.
Special Kay
Doctor-turned-comedian Adam Kay is adapting his best-selling memoir about life on the wards for the BBC and AMC. He tells DQ about translating his diaries for television.
Making it in Mallorca
Executive producer Ben Donald and casting director Vicki Thomson tell DQ about making the truncated second season of BBC crime drama The Mallorca Files and bringing together the show’s international cast.
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.