The BBC has commissioned three new drama titles: Shy & Lola from Clerkenwell Films: 1535, written by Ava Pickett (pictured) from Drama Republic; and D-Notice, a first commission for Declan Lawn and Adam Patterson’s new Sony Pictures’ backed indie Hot Sauce Pictures.
D-Notice
D-Notice is a British political thriller set in the world of investigative journalism. The six, hour-long episodes are written and executive produced by Adam Patterson and Declan Lawn, with creative director Helen Ziegler.
Patterson and Lawn are both former investigative journalists who met whilst working on the BBC’s Panorama programme before moving into drama writing. They have some experience of the D-Notice mechanism which allows the government to advise journalists about national security. Now they’ve come up with a drama that looks at how truth and power speak to one another.
It is the pair’s third project for the BBC following on from The Salisbury Poisonings and Blue Lights.
Filming will take place in Belfast and London
Shy & Lola
Shy & Lola is a new six-part drama for BBC iPlayer and BBC One, written by award-winning screenwriter and novelist Amanda Coe (Apple Tree Yard, The Trial of Christine Keeler) and produced by multi-BAFTA and Emmy award-winning Clerkenwell Films (Baby Reindeer, The Death of Bunny Munro, The End of the F***ing World), part of BBC Studios.
The darkly comic story follows Shy and Lola, two very different women who are forced to become allies when a murder entangles them in the criminal underworld operating in Shy’s small coastal town in the North of England. Beginning as exploited novices, the unlikely duo turn out to have a talent for crime. As they build an operation that threatens to blow the local bad guys out of the water, opposing futures beckon – using their earnings to fund a fresh start, or becoming the new bosses in town.
Hayley Squires (The Night Manager, I, Daniel Blake) stars as Shy, a cleaner scraping by and dreaming of a new life in Portugal. Bel Powley (A Small Light, The Diary of a Teenage Girl) co-stars as Lola, an ex-model-turned-grifter who arrives in town with trouble at her heels. Further cast will be announced in due course.
Filming is set to begin this spring in and around Hull and Leeds.
Screenwriter, Amanda Coe, says: “With such a rich and spiky central relationship at its core, Shy & Lola is a dream of a show to write, full of fun, action and emotion.”
Rachelle Constant, Executive Producer for Clerkenwell Films, says: “Amanda has written a brilliantly bold series centred on a dynamic female duo, which blends dark comedy with propulsive storytelling.”
Lindsay Salt, Director of BBC Drama, says: “Shy and Lola are an unlikely duo, the classic odd couple, who get caught up in a murder – and that’s just the start of it. Amanda Coe’s superb scripts will surprise and amuse viewers in equal measure, and with Clerkenwell producing and Hayley and Bel leading the cast, BBC viewers are in for a real treat.”
The 6 x 60 series for BBC iPlayer and BBC One is written by Amanda Coe, with additional episodes written by Emilie Robson and Alys Metcalf, both alumnae of BBC Writers, which works to nurture emerging voices while championing established writing talent. Sam Donovan (Severance, Down Cemetery Road, Utopia) is lead director, and Nadia Jaynes (The Responder, Big Mood) will produce.
The executive producers are Amanda Coe and, for Clerkenwell Films, Rachelle Constant and Petra Fried. Rachael Stephenson is associate executive producer, and the executive producer for the BBC is Jo McClellan. The show was commissioned by Lindsay Salt, BBC Director of Drama. BBC Studios is handling global sales.
The series is based on the French television drama Cheyenne and Lola, which was written by Virginie Brac, produced by Lincoln TV and STUDIOCANAL and distributed internationally by Federation International.
1536
Based on Ava Pickett’s play of the same name, from Drama Republic (Riot Women, One Day).
The 8 x 30’ drama, written by Pickett (How To Get To Heaven from Belfast, The Great), is set in the heart of Tudor England against the backdrop of Anne Boleyn’s arrest and weaves royal scandal with rural struggle.
It centres around Anna, Mariella and Jane: three young women gossiping, arguing and dreaming in an Essex village, desperately waiting for their lives to start. When the news reaches them that King Henry VIII has had his Queen, Anne Boleyn, arrested, the three of them never suspect that this act will change their lives forever.
As the weeks unfold, Anna, Jane and Mariella notice a rising tide of puritanism and misogyny. They attempt to navigate marriage, relationships, betrayals and births but as the fate of a Queen in a tower is sealed, they discover that being a woman in a volatile country is dangerous. As their own fates come into focus, the three try desperately to hold on to their friendship – but can it last or must they turn on each other to survive?
A darkly comic and terrifyingly relevant story about friendship, sisterhood and a changing world, 1536 is a series that explores how the actions of a man in power changes the fate of working class women on the edges of the country. It asks if a King can murder his Queen, what does that mean for women elsewhere and how much have things really changed?
Ava Pickett says: “I feel so lucky and privileged to have the chance to bring Anna, Jane and Mariella to a wider audience and to build out their lives even more. In a world where every decision made in the corridors of power ricochets through all of our lives, this story feels more relevant than ever. I’m so grateful to Lindsay Salt for being such a champion of it from the start.”
Rebecca de Souza, executive producer for Drama Republic, says: “Ava Pickett’s writing is truly unique, thrilling, and funny, and we are so excited to be working with her in producing her first original series. Audiences were knocked out by her play 1536; it is so bold and entertaining, but it also creeps under your skin, leaving a profound warning for the modern world – a period show from a fresh and urgent viewpoint.”
Lindsay Salt, Director of BBC Drama, adds: “From the moment we saw Ava’s play we knew that we had to have the TV version on the BBC. Visceral, funny, provocative, timely and full of courage, this is a piece of work like no other. Ava is an exceptional voice, so we feel very lucky to be working with her and the brilliant team at Drama Republic to bring three iconic female characters to the screen.”
1536 is written by Ava Pickett. The executive producers are Jude Liknaitzky, Roanna Benn, Rebecca de Souza, Chloe Beeson and Ava Pickett. The series was commissioned by Lindsay Salt, Director of BBC Drama.
Pippa Considine
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