‘Shameless’ Creator Paul Abbott Is Rebooting His BAFTA-Winning Series ‘State Of Play’ For The BBC
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EXCLUSIVE: Shameless creator Paul Abbott is rebooting his award-winning BBC One drama State of Play, which inspired the Russell Crowe movie of the same name.
Deadline can reveal that 16 years after the original show aired, Abbott is in active development on a new series of the political thriller having previously flirted with bringing back the drama in the Noughties.
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Produced by Red Arrow Studios-backed Endor Productions, the original series of State of Play featured a stellar cast including David Morrissey, John Simm, Bill Nighy, James McAvoy and Kelly MacDonald.
Morrissey played politician Stephen Collins, whose researcher is killed on the London Underground. Journalist Cal McCaffrey (Simm) and his editor Cameron Foster (Nighy) investigate, uncovering a complex story that reveals links between government and big business.
Abbott has long wanted to return to the characters, coming closest to revisiting the show in 2006/2007 when he wrote scripts taking forward the stories of the journalists played by Simm and Nighy. “I was up until 3AM the other night working on scripts, I’m really excited,” he told The Sun in 2007.
But nothing materialized and now, more than a decade on, Abbott is having another attempt at breathing fresh life into the show, which secured Nighy a BAFTA for best actor. It is not yet known who will produce the new series.
Abbott served as an executive producer on Universal Pictures’ 2009 State of Play movie. Crowe played McCaffrey in the film and Ben Affleck was Collins, while the cast also included Helen Mirren and Rachel McAdams.
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