Brit Marling, James Nesbitt To Star In Danny Boyle-Directed Channel 4 Pilot ‘Babylon’

Danny Boyle is keeping busy in TV these days. In the U.S., he’s teamed with FX and his Slumdog Millionaire writer and producer Simon Beaufoy and Christian Colson for 10-part WWII miniseries Telemark. Closer to home, he’s readying a pilot for Channel 4‘s straight-to-series police comedy/drama Babylon. BAFTA winners Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong are scripting the pilot which Boyle will direct. Brit Marling (Another Earth, Arbitrage) has now been cast in the lead as Liz Garvey, a new-media savvy American who’s parachuted in to revolutionize the PR department of London’s police force. James Nesbitt (The Hobbit) plays Chief Constable Richard Miller. Also in the ensemble cast are Paterson Joseph (Peep Show), Jill Halfpenny (EastEnders), Adam Deacon (Kidulthood), Daniel Kaluuya, Jonny Sweet, Andrew Brooke and Bertie Carvel. Described as “razor-sharp and visually audacious,” Babylon takes a wry look at the people and politics in the command rooms and on the frontlines of a modern police force, as it attempts to uphold the peace under constant scrutiny. The pilot shoots this fall for an early 2014 airdate and a further six episodes have been ordered for production in 2014. Boyle is exec producing with Robert Jones (The Usual Suspects), Armstrong and Bain. Producers are Jones and Derrin Schlesinger. Marling is repped by CAA, Nesbitt is repped by Artist Rights Group in the UK and by UTA.