‘Showtrial’ Renewed For Season 2 By BBC With Fresh Cast Including Adeel Akhtar & ‘Gallows Pole’ Lead Michael Socha

Line of Duty maker World’s BBC thriller Showtrial has been renewed for a second season with a fresh cast.

BAFTA-winning Sherwood star Adeel Akhtar will feature in a new story alongside Shane Meadows’ Gallows Pole lead Michael Socha and Nathalie Armin (Home), in the show created by The Diplomat’s Ben Richards.

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As with Season 1, the second run will focus on a hotly-contested criminal trial that divides the nation and takes place in the full glare of the media spotlight. Logline reads: “When the high-profile climate activist Marcus Calderwood is left for dead in a violent hit and run, he uses his dying moments to identify his killer – a serving policeman. But who is this unnamed ‘Officer X’? What does his own history reveal about the nature of trauma and revenge, and was Marcus’s death a careless accident or cold-blooded murder?”

The first season starred Tracy Ifeachor and Céline Buckens in a story about the arrogant daughter of a wealthy entrepreneur who is arrested following the disappearance of a fellow student.

Showtrial is one of a number of BBC dramas produced by Line of Duty maker World and is created and written by Richards, whose past credits include COBRA and Spooks.

“I am very grateful to the BBC for the opportunity to explore another sensational trial which I hope will be just as entertaining as our first outing,” said Richards. “I love writing Showtrial and I’m honored to have a cast of such high quality to deliver it.”

Filming in Northern Ireland will kick off later this year with further casting announced in due course. Showtrial is directed by Julia Ford (Everything I Know About Love) and produced by Ken Horn (Line of Duty). EPs are Simon Heath and Emma Luffingham for World, with Nawfal Faizullah for the BBC.

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