BritBox, the subscription streaming service from BBC Studios and ITV offering the biggest collection of streaming British television in North America, has announced three UK drama originals. The three projects are all literary adaptations and will premiere in 2021 (via Deadline).
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The first project, The Beast Must Die, is an adaptation of Nicholas Blake’s 1938 novel from New Regency Television and Ridley Scott’s Scott Free Films. It tells the story of a grieving mother who infiltrates the life of the man she believes killed her son. Golden Globe and Emmy-nominated actor Jared Harris (Chernobyl, The Crown) will headline the five-part revenge thriller, starring alongside Cush Jumbo (The Good Wife), Billy Howle (MotherFatherSon), and Nathaniel Parker (The Inspector Lynley Mysteries).
The Beast Must Die series is written by Gaby Chiappe (Their Finest) and will be directed by Dome Karukoski (Tolkein). Sarada McDermott serves as the producer with executive producers including Ed Rubin and Emma Broughton for New Regency, Marina Brackenbury and David Zucker for Scott Free, and Parker and Chiappe.
The next project, Crime, will be penned by Irvine Welsh (Trainspotting) in his first TV adaptation, based on his book of the same name. The six-part series will star Dougray Scott (Mission: Impossible 2) as Detective Inspector Ray Lennox, who is investigating the disappearance of a schoolgirl while battling cocaine addiction and a mental breakdown. Crime is made by Marcella producer Buccaneer Media, with Tony Wood and Scott producing. Executive producers are Welsh, Dean Cavanagh, Richard Tulk-Hart, and James Strong. Cineflix Rights is distributing the series internationally.
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The third series is Alex Rider creator Anthony Horowitz’s adaptation of his novel Magpie Murders, which is part of a co-production with PBS Masterpiece. Magpie Murders revolves around the character Susan Ryeland, an editor who is given an unfinished manuscript of author Alan Conway’s latest novel but has little idea it will change her life. Horowitz said that the book “wasn’t easy to adapt” but will result in a drama that will “delight and beguile audiences.”
