Stan Lee, ‘Downton Abbey’ Producer Team On Superhero Drama ‘Lucky Man’ For Sky1
Downton Abbey producer Carnival Films is pairing with comic book icon Stan Lee on UK drama series Lucky Man. The 10-part hourlong project commissioned by Sky1 is Lee’s first foray into British drama and will star The Missing‘s James Nesbitt. He’ll play Harry Clayton, a cop from Central London’s notorious Murder Squad, who’s given a charm that seems to confer upon the wearer the ability to control luck.
Also starring are Eve Best (Nurse Jackie, The Honourable Woman), Sienna Guillory (Fortitude, Luther), Amara Karan (The Darjeeling Limited), Darren Boyd (Fortitude), Omid Djalili (Moonfleet), Jing Lusi (Holby City) and Kenneth Tsang (Die Another Day).
Nesbitt’s Harry is down on his luck; his wife (Best) and child have left him due to his gambling habit, his boss thinks he’s in league with the devil, and he has a huge debt to an infamous underworld crime boss who is threatening his life. A chance meeting with a mysterious woman who gives him an ancient bracelet changes everything. It appears to give Harry control over luck itself, but at what cost?
The story is based on an original idea from Lee, whose POW! Entertainment is collaborating on the project. A 2016 airdate is eyed with NBCUniversal International Distribution handling global.
Richard Fell and Gareth Neame will exec produce for Carnival Films, and Anne Mensah and Beverley Booker for Sky, with Lee and producing partner Gill Champion as co-executive producers, alongside writer and co-creator Neil Biswas (The Take).
Fell calls Lucky Man “a different kind of superhero show — Stan has come up with an absolutely brilliant idea; something that we can all relate to. What if you could control luck? Would that be the greatest thing you could give someone, or their worst nightmare? It’s a twist which brings the whole superhero genre right back down to Earth, which we hope will appeal to the Sky1 audience.”
Sky has ramped up its drama commitments during the past year with upcoming series including Birthday, written by Joe Penhall; The Five, created by Harlan Coben; heist thriller The Last Panthers; medical drama Critical; Enfield Haunting with Timothy Spall, Matthew MacFadyen and Juliet Stevenson; Raymond Briggs’ Fungus The Bogeyman; and epic global drama Apocalypse Slough, starring Rob Lowe.
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