BBC Sets New Dramas With Heyday And ‘Thirteen’ Creator Marnie Dickens

The BBC has ordered four new dramas for BBC One, including surveillance thriller The Capture with David Heyman’s Heyday Television and NBC Universal International Studios, and Marnie Dickens series Gold Digger.

London-set spy thriller The Capture, the brainchild of writer-director Ben Chanan (Cyberbully), will begin with the unjust arrest of an innocent man and escalate into a multi-layered conspiracy of manipulated evidence. The 6x60mins series will be executive produced by Harry Potter producer Heyman and Rosie Alison for Heyday Television, Ben Irving for BBC One, Tom Coan for NBCUniversal International Studios and Chanan. It will be distributed by NBCUniversal International Distribution. Piers Wenger, Controller of BBC Drama, described the show as “research based but with huge flair in its storytelling. The Capture shines a light on surveillance culture and asks what happens in a world where we can no longer trust the evidence in front of us.”

Written and created by Marnie Dickens, creator of well-received BBC mini-series Thirteen, and produced by Mainstreet Pictures, Gold Digger (6x60mins) will tell the story of a wealthy 60 year old who falls in love with a man 25 years her junior. The six part series will chart the impact their unconventional and evolving relationship has on her family. Executive producers are Laura Mackie and Sally Haynes for Mainstreet Pictures, Elizabeth Kilgarriff for BBC One and Dickens.

Meanwhile, four part drama Dark Mon£y (4x60mins) by Bafta-winning writer Levi David Addai (Damilola, Our Loved Boy), is produced by The Forge. The drama will see an ordinary London family decide to accept a substantial pay-off from a renowned filmmaker to keep silent about the abuse of their youngest son. Although guilt-ridden, they believe the money will enable the family to heal and move on. But the damage runs deep. Wenger said of the drama, “Timely but with a big existential question at its heart, Levi’s brilliantly inventive original series explores what happens when a mother and father do the wrong thing for the greater good of their family. In creating Dark Mon£y, Levi has conjured up a perfect morality tale for today.” Executive Producers are George Faber and Mark Pybus for The Forge, Lucy Richer for BBC One and David Addai.

Finally, Elizabeth Is Missing combines a mystery plot line with a tough look at a woman’s struggle with dementia. When her best friend Elizabeth goes missing, Maud is convinced that something terrible has happened, and sets out to solve the mystery. But with her dementia worsening, Maud’s search takes on a poignant urgency. Based on the best-selling novel by Emma Healey, the drama is written by Andrea Gibb (Swallows And Amazons) and made by STV Productions. Executive producers on the 1x90mins drama are Sarah Brown and Andrea Gibb for STV Productions and Elizabeth Kilgarriff and Gaynor Holmes for BBC One.

Casting is underway on all four projects.