Netflix UK Scripted Slate: Steven Knight To Pen Guinness Series; Stephen Graham & Jack Thorne Team For Real-Time Crime Drama

Max Goldbart
·4 min read
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A splashy Netflix UK scripted slate features a historical series about the Guinness brewery from Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight and the latest ‘one-shot’ offering from Stephen Graham, Jack Thorne and Philip Barantini.

The prolific Knight is penning House of Guinness [working title] from long-time producing collaborator Kudos.

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The show will tell the story of one of Europe’s most famous and enduring dynasties – The Guinness Family. Set in 19th-century Dublin and New York, it will focus on the consequences of the death of Benjamin Guinness, the man responsible for the extraordinary success of the Guinness brewery, and the far-reaching impact of his cunning will on the fate of his four adult children, Arthur, Edward, Anne, and Ben, as well as on a group of Dublin characters who work and interact with the growing juggernaut that is one of the most beloved alcoholic drinks today.

Netflix UK content boss Anne Mensah said Knight’s latest has “all the power of Peaky Blinders but the scale and the sweep of a true family saga.”

Brad Pitt’s Plan B, Matriarch Productions and Warp Films are producing Adolescence [working title] from storied trio Graham, Thorne and Barantini, who will unite for an ambitious crime drama told in a real-time, Boiling Point-style one shot. Plot is being kept under wraps but Thorne and Graham will write with Barantini directing. Barantini directed Graham in award-winner Boiling Point and the subsequent BBC TV series.

Meanwhile, as reported earlier today, Fifty Shades of Grey’s Jamie Dornan will lead The Undertow, a crime noir series that will see the Irishman take on the dual roles of identical twins Adam and Lee. Suffocating in a loveless marriage to Adam, Nicola’s (Mackenzie Davis) life takes a dramatic turn when Adam’s long-estranged identical twin brother Lee comes crashing back into her life, and their tangled romantic past threatens to destroy the present.

The series is based on the Nordisk Film Production AS show Twin, created by Kristoffer Metcalfe. The adaptation will be produced by Complete Fiction and wiip, and production will start on the Isle of Mull, Scotland, later this year.

The shows were revealed this afternoon at a glitzy London event featuring stars of upcoming Netflix UK content including Benedict Cumberbatch discussing Eric and Billie Piper talking about Prince Andrew feature Scoop.

Netflix also confirmed Deadline’s story from yesterday that it has greenlit another project from Matt Charman following the high-profile cancellation of The Mothership earlier this year. Netflix offered more details on Charman’s The Choice today, which will star Suranne Jones and Julie Delpy as the British Prime Minister and French President respectively in a high-stakes political thriller, while Corey Mylchreest (Queen Charlotte), Lucian Msamati (Conclave), Ashley Thomas (Them, Great Expectations), James Cosmo (Jack Ryan, Game of Thrones) and Jehnney Beth (Anatomy of a Fall) also star. The series comes from Charman’s Binocular Productions.

Netflix is also making true crime drama The Witness about the tragic death of Rachel Nickell from Criminal Record producer STV Studios, which will follow the murder from the point of view of Alex Hanscombe, who witnessed his mother’s brutal killing on Wimbledon Common. The terrible tragedy was also spotlighted in Channel 4 drama Deceit three years ago, starring Niamh Algar. Hanscombe and his father André Hanscombe have provided consultancy.

Elsewhere, Power of the Dog and Heartstopper maker See-Saw Films is developing a Netflix adaptation of Marian Keyes’ Grown Ups, an ensemble family drama based on three couples who are loyal, noisy and bound together by a whole lot of love.

In casting news, Deadline revealed prior to the event that the likes of Richard Armitage and Lenny Henry will star in Harlan Coben’s next adaptation, Missing You, while Netflix also unveiled the names featuring in the Bank of Dave sequel including Amit Shah (Happy Valley), Pearce Quigley (The Gentlemen) and a cameo for English rockers Def Leppard.

Black Mirror has also been confirmed for a seventh season and will return to the USS Callister.

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