Sky's The Limit

Sky has ordered 10 major dramas across its channels, including a "no-holds barred" four-part Ian Fleming biopic for Sky Atlantic and talent-led Sky Arts projects starring the likes of Vanessa Redgrave and Kylie Minogue, and created by Idris Elba, Matt Smith and Grayson Perry. The series were ordered by Sky head of drama Anne Mensah and mark the first time the pay-TV broadcaster has taken international rights to drama commissions for distribution via Sky Vision - although it would not reveal which projects it is distributing. "When we have great talent come to us with their projects of conviction, we are always open to the discussion - one of the best things about being a subscription business is that we’re able to take more creative risks," Mensah said.

Ecosse Films’ Fleming stars British actor Domnic Cooper as the James Bond creator, "whose real life was as exciting, eventful and sexually charged as his famous creation". The miniseries is set during WWII when the maverick and hedonistic Fleming was hired by British Naval intelligence as part of its undercover campaign against the Nazis, after his careers as a banker and stockbroker failed. It was these wartime experiences that provided the inspiration for British spy 007, who first appeared in print in "Casino Royale," published in 1953. Like his character, Fleming was well known in English society for his womanizing and taste for alcohol. "Stepping into the shoes of the spy who not only created the enigmatic character of 007, but who fantasized about being him has to be every actor's dream," said Cooper. Rising British actress Annabelle Wallis has been cast as Muriel Wright, a woman with whom Fleming had a love affair and who some believe to be the original inspiration for the Bond Girl.

Written by John Brownlow and Don Macpherson, and helmed by Mat Whitecross (The Road to Guantanamo), Fleming will be shot on location in London and Budapest in the coming months for broadcast on Sky Atlantic in late 2013. The series will be distributed by BBC Worldwide. US cable network BBC America is already on board and it is thought VoD rights in the US are also being discussed. Ecosse Films founder Douglas Rae said it brought the project to Mensah because Sky had acquired the James Bond feature film library. The series, which was originally developed as a feature film, is based on a John Pearson biography. "Ian Fleming's story is as dramatic and entertaining as any of the Bond films. Sky Atlantic is aspiring to be like HBO in scale, and that is perfect for us," Rae said.


Also coming to Sky Atlantic is an adaptation of hit Scandinavian series The Bridge which, in an act of entente cordiale, is being co-produced with French broadcaster Canal+. The Tunnel begins its 25-week filming schedule in early February and will be bilingual – something producers claim will be a first in broadcasting for the UK and France – with subtitles for viewers less than fluent in their neighbour country's language. (No word on how the characters are going to overcome the language barrier). Ben Richards (Spooks, Outcasts, Party Animals) has headed up the Anglo-French writing team behind the 10-part series, which will be primarily set in the coastal towns of Folkestone and Calais against the backdrop of a Europe in crisis. When a prominent French politician is found dead on the border between the UK and France, detectives Karl Roebuck and Elise Wassermann are sent to investigate on behalf of their respective countries. However, the case takes a surreal turn when a shocking discovery is made at the crime scene, forcing the French and British police into an uneasy partnership. As the serial killer uses ever more elaborate and ingenious methods to highlight the moral bankruptcy of modern society, Karl and Elise are drawn deeper into his increasingly personal agenda.

Kudos Film & TV and Shine France are producing, with Jane Featherstone, Karen Wilson, Manda Levin, Ben Richards, Anne Mensah, Fabrice De La Patellière, Lars Blomgren and Nora Melhli serving as executive producers. "The state and future of the European Union has never been more part of the public conversation," says Mensah. "We're absolutely thrilled to be working with Canal+ and Kudos Film and TV on this exceptional series. The Tunnel's journey into the mind of a politically motivated serial killer will really build on Sky Atlantic's ambition to be the home of world class storytelling." De La Patellière, director of French fiction for Canal+ said: "This partnership combines Franco-British talents both in the writing and production of the drama … our objective is to develop a major series that is undeniably original and unique."

Sky Arts has commissioned several 30-minute dramas for the latest season of its 'Playhouse Presents' strand, which goes to air in March. These include Eleven Film’s Mr Understood from Grayson Perry, the story of a young transvestite with Kate Hardie, and Nightshift, a Company Pictures and Cajun Pictures co-pro, a cop drama written by Jimmy Gardner. There are also four from Sprout Pictures, starting with Hey Diddly Dee, a dark comedy starring Kylie Minogue opposite Peter Serafinowicz and David Harewood and directed by Marc Warren. Minogue is to play the character of Bibi in a whodunnit about a group of actors putting on a play about Andy Warhol, and said of the project: "When the script was sent to me, I read it and knew instinctively I wanted to be part of this project. In Hey Diddly Dee, Marc has created a beautiful and quirky story. I have also enjoyed many of the Playhouse Presents series and love that they have created a platform for this type of work." Cargese, a piece of poetic realism about adolescent love and loss, is directed by Doctor Who’s Matt Smith. Idris Elba-directed Pavement Psychologist stars Anna Friel; while Vanessa Redgrave-fronted Union Square is a comedy based on a short story by Leonard B. Francavilla. "A disturbance leads to some strange encounters for two policemen in this funny and poignant portrait of loneliness in the city," the project description says. Johnny Vegas also takes to the director’s seat in Ragged, which will star Ricky Tomlinson as a hunger striker.

Last year’s inaugural series of Playhouse Presents was well-received and the most successful series for the channel. More recently, Daniel Radcliffe and Mad Men’s Jon Hamm appeared in A Young Doctor’s Notebook, an interpretation of playwright Mikhail Bulgakov’s short stories. According to James Hunt, Channel Director of Sky Arts, this was part of the reason why the second series features "the most extraordinary talent". He says: "The reception to the first series of Playhouse Presents was nothing short of phenomenal. We are passionate about bringing the very best comedy and drama on Sky Arts to our customers, and we have no doubt that this outstanding cast, in the hands of these award-winning production companies, will do just that." In addition, some of comedy’s best female talent will appear in a new six-part series sketch show, Psychobitches, which sees some of history’s most influential women psychoanalysed. Julia Davis will appear as poet Sylvia Plath, Kathy Burke as Mona Lisa and Katy Brand as Mary Shelley. The series feature award-winning writing from Simon Stephens and The Thick of It’s David Quantick, who has created a comedy about a 50-year-old unemployed John Lennon who left the Beatles.

Separately, Sky Living has ordered three projects from British female screenwriting talent to launch their 'The Reckless Season' - a strand similar to the channel’s previously announced 'Love Matters' and Sky1′s 'Little Crackers' which will showcase a number of one-off dramas that are also serving as backdoor pilots. Bonafide Films’ Gwyneth Hughes-penned Talking To The Dead is a two-part series based on the book by Harry Bingham. It tells the story of Fiona, a newly qualified detective on her first murder case, "who may be set to find out that enthusiasm can prove deadly." Kudos and Pirate co-pro Rubenesque is a one-off story written and directed by Annie Griffin (Fresh Meat). It takes an unashamedly naked look at modern women with a story that centres on a female football referee’s journey to becoming a plus size model. Red Productions’ Sally Wainwright-penned The Last Witch, is a tale of two five hundred year old witches battling it out in modern day Britain. When this powerful duo go to war, everyone else is simply collateral.
500 year old witches in modern day Britain.

The most ambitious Sky Living project is a 10-part reimagining of classic tale Dracula. Starring Irish actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers, and co-produced with NBC, filming starts this summer in the hands of former Carnivàle showrunner Dan Knauf. Production bosses say Dracula - set in the Victorian era - will stay true to the classic story's time period, but with a "look to the future". It will be set in London in the 1890s, and see Dracula lead a double life as an American businessman interested in bringing modern science to Victorian society. However, his plan to exact revenge on those who ruined his life centuries earlier is derailed when he falls in love with a comely young lass who may also be the reincarnation of his dead wife. Based on a script by Cole Haddon, it will be co-produced by Gareth Neame who was responsible for ITV1's hit period drama Downton Abbey. Entertainment chairman at NBC, Bob Greenblatt, who was involved in casting Rhys Meyers as King Henry VIII in the historical drama, The Tudors, said the new series would bring a Tudors sensibility to a piece of classic literature. "In the world of Twilight and True Blood and all the contemporised stories, we thought we'd go back to the original," he said.

Finally, Sky 1 announced the Bafta-nominated Mad Dogs, Left Bank's macho-skewing drama which aired on Sky1 in 2011, will return a fourth and final season of 2 episodes to allow a proper send off for the show and its characters. Max Beesley, Philip Glenister, John Simm and Marc Warren will all return in this final installment which goes into production next month and is set to air this Spring, shortly after the conclusion of the show’s 4 episode third season which arrives in April. "The foursome’s run of bad luck culminated in the series two finale as the law caught up with them in Morocco, and they’re not in a good place in the comeback episode," the Sky brochure reveals. "Enduring various forms of interrogation in what appears to be a dilapidated prison in the middle of the desert, Woody, Quinn, Baxter and Rick’s knack for attracting trouble is only set to continue. A new face has also been thrown into the mix; feisty fellow prisoner Mercedes, played by Jamie Winstone (Donkey Punch) sporting a very different look. But can she be trusted?"

Also coming back is Emmy nominated hit action series Strike Back for a fourth series of ten brand new episodes, shot on location in South Africa and Hungary. It will once again be a co-production between Sky and CINEMAX/HBO and will be produced by Left Bank Pictures. The series was commissioned and will be Executive Produced by Sky’s Huw Kennair-Jones, Commissioning Editor, Drama. Left Bank’s Andy Harries will return as Executive Producer along with Series Producer Michael Casey and Head of Production Marigo Kehoe. Also returning for Series Four are Director Michael Bassett (Silent Hill: Revelation 3D) and writers Simon Burke (Persuasion), James Dormer (MI-5) and Richard Zajdlic (EastEnders.) Additional directors and writers will be announced as they are confirmed. In addition, Strike Back's confidential consultants who work in the field of counterterrorism will return for the new series. Their expertise is a resource for story, lingo, procedure, accuracy, character development and regional issues, providing an insight to the highly secretive world of 'Black Ops.' They also train the cast in battle tactics, weapons and fighting, as the lead actors do the majority of their own stunts.

Elsewhere, The Smoke is a brand new eight part series from Kudos Film and TV written and created by Lucy Kirkwood (Skins). Based around the day to day running of a London fire station, the drama will tell the adrenaline-fuelled and gut-wrenchingly emotional stories around the crew’s working and personal lives. At the heart of the story is a family of firemen and women who, no matter what, always have each other to fall back on. But being a hero isn’t easy, especially in a world that regularly disregards them, and it certainly doesn’t pay. Many crew members are forced to hold down other jobs on the side, taking some of them into the city’s after dark world. The stakes are high but, in The Smoke, it’s the very lives and souls of the White Watch crew that are at risk. "We wanted to bring a new, modern view of heroism to Sky 1 HD," says Mensah. "The Smoke was a perfect fit. It has all the huge scale action and adrenaline that a show about fire can bring to the screen, but in Lucy’s hands there is also a beautiful depth and complexity to the characterisation. This is a show that asks real questions about what it means to be a man in today’s world."

Also coming to Sky One is Moonfleet, a new family drama adapted in two parts from the classic John Meade Falkner story. The programme will be produced by the award-winning Company Pictures and the scripts have been written by Ashley Pharoah (Life On Mars, Ashes to Ashes). Filming will commence later this year on this much loved adventure set in the small Dorset village of Moonfleet. In the story young John Trenchard is haunted by dreams of the legendary Blackbeard and captivated by the whereabouts of his fabled diamond. Desperate to join the local band of smugglers, a turn of events unites him with Elzevir, the leader of the gang. Together they embark on a danger-filled adventure to locate Blackbeard's most treasured possession. Mensah commented: "Moonfleet is one of those unusual classic titles which people have heard of but that hasn’t been done to death. This allows us to make it feel unique to Sky, to please people who grew up with the story but also to bring in a new generation of viewers who might not be so familiar with the text. And of course it is going to be a Sky drama so expect big action as well as smugglers, fights, ghosts, diamond hunting and a father/son story which should totally and unashamedly capture your heart. Huge thanks to Company Pictures and Ashley Pharoah for bringing such a fantastic story to life for us."

The same channel have also confirmed that they are developing a medical drama with Line of Duty creator Jed Mercurio. The project, which is operating under the working title Critical, is said to focus on the first 'golden hour' when treatment for a serious injury can save lives.

Sky's continued emphasis on showcasing British talent is a result of the broadcaster's commitment to invest £600million in home-grown television by 2014. The newly unveiled slate will put 70 hours of drama across the company's portfolio of networks. In announcing the raft of new commissions, Mensah said: "A number of these passion projects had potential to become longer-running series. At Sky we have a strong ambition to deliver modern, original dramas that are both entertaining and intelligent. We seek to bring our customers the most innovative and bold pieces produced by some of the brightest talent in drama programming today. Our broad range of entertainment channels has allowed us to commission this diverse and rich drama slate, providing customers with a wealth of choice and I’m thrilled to be able to unveil this fantastic line up. The most exciting thing is that this is just the start of the growing drama story at Sky." Stuart Murphy, Director of Sky’s Entertainment Channels, added: "Anne’s vision for drama at Sky is very exciting; and I’m looking forward to seeing these projects come to fruition as much as, I’m sure, our customers will. These new commissions bring together world-class talent, both on and off screen, and are unique pieces of television that exemplify the scale of our ambition."