ITV : unveils bumper line-up of new programming for autumn

Highlights

Autumn 2021

New Drama

The Tower

Gemma Whelan stars as Detective Sergeant Sarah Collins in new ITV series The Tower, adapted by Homeland writer and executive producer Patrick Harbinson.

Emmett J. Scanlan, Tahirah Sharif and Jimmy Akingbola also star in the three part series produced by Windhover Films and Mammoth Screen, in association with ITV Studios, and based on Post Mortem, the first in Kate London's Metropolitan series of novels.

In The Tower's breath-taking opening sequence, a veteran beat cop and a teenage girl fall to their deaths from a tower block in south-east London. Left alive on the roof are a five-year-old boy and rookie police officer Lizzie Adama (Tahirah Sharif). Within hours, Lizzie has disappeared, and Detective Sergeant Sarah Collins is charged with leading the investigation. She not only has to track down Lizzie before she comes to serious harm, but also to uncover the truth behind the grisly deaths. What chain of events took two police officers and two children to the roof of that tower block - why did two of them die? Why did two of them survive?

The antagonistic relationship between the experienced Sergeant Sarah Collins and the novice cop Lizzie Adama is at the heart of London's novels and The Tower. What happened on the roof of the tower is the mystery that Sarah must uncover. When it's finally revealed, the truth will cast its shadow over Sarah and Lizzie's relationship and their lives.

Emmett takes the role of uniformed police inspector Kieran Shaw, Jimmy is DC Steve Bradshaw. Also joining the cast are Nick Holder as PC Hadley Matthews and Lola Elsokari as Farah.

Press Contacts

Sarah Gaffney [e-mail]

Picture Contact

Patrick Smith [e-mail]

Production Details

Written by Kate London, a former Met Police Officer who finished her career working as part of a Major Investigation Team on the Homicide and Serious Crime Command.

Paul Testar (The Serpent) and Sherie Myers (I May Destroy You) produced and Jim Loach (Save Me Too) directed.

New Drama

Stephen

Sharlene Whyte, Steve Coogan and Hugh Quarshie play leading roles in Stephen, the three-part sequel to the groundbreaking drama, The Murder of Stephen Lawrence.

The drama portrays events from 2006, thirteen years after Stephen's death on the evening of 22 April 1993, from a racially motivated attack whilst waiting for a bus in Well Hall Road, Eltham.

Even though Doreen (Sharlene Whyte, Small Axe, We Hunt Together) and Neville Lawrence (Hugh Quarshie, reprising his role from the first film, Breeders, Holby City) knew the identity of their son's killers, the original investigation had failed to convict those responsible. Their extraordinary campaign for justice led to a public inquiry which branded the Metropolitan Police institutionally racist and brought about sweeping changes in the law and police practices and transformed thinking and understanding of racial inequality in the UK.

Yet six years on from the inquiry no progress had been made into the case. The drama tells the story of the ongoing struggle by Doreen and Neville Lawrence to achieve justice and how a detective, DCI Clive Driscoll (BAFTA award winning and Golden Globe nominated actor Steve Coogan, Stan & Ollie, Philomena) - working closely with the Lawrences - puts together an investigation that finally, more than 18 years after his death, secures the convictions of two of the gang who committed the murder of Stephen.

Press Contacts

Sarah Gaffney [e-mail]

Picture Contact

Patrick Smith [e-mail]

Production Details

Stephen was directed by Alrick Riley (The Cops, NCIS and Hustle) and produced by Madonna Baptiste (The Stranger, Black Mirror, Silent Witness). The sequel was written by Frank Cottrell Boyce (Hilary and Jackie, Millions, 24-Hour Party People) and Joe Cottrell Boyce (Treasure) and produced by HTM (Hat Trick Mercurio) Television and executive produced by Mark Redhead (Bloody Sunday, God on Trial, The Secret), who produced the original drama in 1999.

Paul Greengrass, award-winning screenwriter and director, who wrote and directed The Murder of Stephen Lawrence served as an Executive Producer. Jimmy Mulville and Jed Mercurio also executive produced. Stephen was produced in association with Baby Cow Productions. Other cast includes Richie Campbell, Jorden Myrie, Sian Brooke and Adil Ray.

The production team made this sequel with the full support of the Lawrence family, most notably Baroness Doreen Lawrence and Dr Neville Lawrence, who have given the drama their blessing.

New Drama

Angela Black

Angela Black's life appears idyllic: a house in suburban London, days working volunteer shifts at a dogs home, two beautiful sons and a charming, hard-working husband - Olivier.

However, beneath this façade of charmed domesticity, Angela, played by Joanne Froggatt, is a victim of domestic violence. Olivier (Michiel Huisman) is controlling and brutal; but Angela loves him and he's the father of her children. She can't leave him, even though she has threatened to countless times. So she covers her bruises with make-up and fabricates lies to explain away her missing teeth.

Until, one day, Angela is approached by Ed (Samuel Adewunmi) a Private Investigator, and he smashes her already strained domestic life to pieces. Ed reveals Olivier's deepest secrets to Angela, and she is faced with horrifying truths about her husband and his betrayals. But can Angela trust Ed? And what truths from Angela's past life will be revealed in the ferocious fight between her and her husband? With one encounter, Angela's life switches from school runs and the dogs home to private detectives and buried secrets.

Angela Black is a Hitchcockian thriller that follows one woman as she risks everything she holds dear to fight back against the man who has suppressed and tormented her for most of her adult life.

Press Contact

SJ Peyton [e-mail]

Katy Sykes [e-mail]

Picture Contact

Patrick Smith [e-mail]

Production Details

Angela Black is written by BAFTA- nominated and Emmy® and Golden Globe®-winning producers and screenwriters Harry and Jack Williams for Two Brothers Pictures. Jack and Harry Williams executive produce the series alongside Two Brothers Pictures Head of Drama, Christopher Aird and Sarah Hammond. Angela Black is produced by Natasha Romaniuk and directed by Craig Viveiros.

New Drama

Hollington Drive

Anna Maxwell Martin and Rachael Stirling play sisters in a new four-part thriller for ITV, Hollington Drive, from acclaimed screenwriter Sophie Petzal.

Theresa, (Anna Maxwell Martin, Motherland) and her older headteacher sibling, Helen (Rachael Stirling, Wild Bill) are close and their partners Fraser, (Rhashan Stone, Finding Alice) and Helen's partner, David (Peter McDonald, Dublin Murders) and children enjoy spending time together.

We open on a warm, balmy evening, barbecue sizzling on the patio, the perfect family setting. The atmosphere is chilled, as they lounge in Theresa and Fraser's perfectly manicured garden. Apart from Fraser's brother Eddie (Ken Nwosu, Sticks and Stones) winding everyone up, there's hardly a hint of tension, but this is the calm before the storm.

When Theresa's ten-year-old son, Ben (Fraser Holmes) asks to play in the nearby park with his cousin Eva (Amelie Bea Smith, The Haunting of Bly Manor), the adults begin to niggle. Fraser is relaxed and is fine for them to go, but this doesn't help Theresa's fears of foreboding and growing feelings of anxiety.

As expected the children don't return on time, and Theresa goes in search. Her suspicions are heightened when she finds the children on the edge of a woodland area and they appear to be fighting. Immediately her instincts tell her something terrible has happened.

This is all too realised when later that evening distraught neighbour, Jean (Jodie McNee, Little Boy Blue), calls on the family. Her ten-year-old son Alex has gone missing…

Press Contacts

Sarah Gaffney [e-mail]

lisavanolipublicity@

googlemail.com

Picture Contact

Patrick Smith [e-mail]

Production Details

Produced by West Road Pictures, the All3Media scripted production label fronted by Managing Director and Executive Producer Jonathan Fisher, The series is produced

in association with All3Media International - the show's global partner. All3Media International will distribute the series internationally.

Filmed in Wales, the series was directed by Carolina Giammetta (The Drowning) and produced by Catrin Lewis Defis (The Pact). Executive producers are Sophie Petzal and Jonathan Fisher.