‘Trainspotting’s’ Irvine Welsh Adapts ‘Crime’ For BritBox Originals Slate
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“Trainspotting” creator Irvine Welsh will adapt his novel “Crime” alongside long-standing screenwriting partner Dean Cavanagh (“Wedding Belles”) for BBC and ITV-backed streamer BritBox U.K. The six-episode production is one of four original commissions announced by the platform on Wednesday.
Set in Edinburgh and directed by James Strong (“Liar”), “Crime” will star Dougray Scott (“Mission: Impossible 2”) as a detective who is investigating the disappearance of a schoolgirl while battling his own personal demons. It is being produced by Buccaneer Media, Tony Wood and Dougray Scott. Executive producers are Welsh, Cavanagh, Richard Tulk-Hart and James Strong. It is distributed worldwide by Cineflix Rights.
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Five-part revenge thriller, “The Beast Must Die,” based on Nicholas Blake’s novel, is being produced by New Regency Television and Ridley Scott’s Scott Free. New Regency will also distribute internationally.
The series stars Jared Harris (“Chernobyl”), Cush Jumbo (“The Good Wife”), Billy Howle (“MotherFatherSon”) and Nathaniel Parker (“The Outcast”) and tells the story of a grieving mother who infiltrates the life of the man she believes killed her son. Dome Karukoski (“Tolkien”) will direct.
“Magpie Murders,” an adapted of Anthony Horowitz’s bestselling murder mystery, has been commissioned by BritBox alongside PBS’s ‘Masterpiece’ and will be produced by Eleventh Hour Films. Sony Pictures Television are distributing the series worldwide.
The commissions also include “A Spy Among Friends,” a limited series based on the best-selling book written by Ben Macintyre and produced by ITV Studios’ Patrick Spence (“The Eddy”).
Reemah Sakaan, group director of ITV SVOD and chief creative and brand officer for BritBox Global, said: “BritBox Originals need to be bold, bingeable and distinctively British. Creating this exceptional roll call of talent, stories and productions in our first drama slate to add exclusively to the treasure trove of BritBox boxsets from every U.K. PSB is something no one else can do, we can’t wait to bring them to subscribers.”
Kevin Lygo, ITV’s director of television who also leads BritBox U.K. Originals, said: “BritBox stands for the best of British and with this high calibre slate of original drama commissions, we are bringing the very best of U.K. creative talent to a U.K. streamer for the first time.”
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