EXCLUSIVE: Here’s a hot one: Killing Eve star Jodie Comer and The Irishman actor Stephen Graham are on the brink of signing up for a Channel 4 drama that will be set in a UK care home during the coronavirus crisis, Deadline can reveal.
The four-part series is housed at All3Media-backed production outfit The Forge, which has reunited the stellar team behind the BAFTA-winning National Treasure to make the topical drama, including writer Jack Thorne and director Marc Munden.
Details on the plot are being closely guarded by those involved, but we hear that the action will be set in and around a British care home in 2020. The show was originally called Home, but producers are now rethinking this title.
UK care homes have been hit particularly hard by the coronavirus pandemic, with more than 19,000 residents dying because of the disease. As a result, they are now at the epicenter of some of the strictest lockdown measures in the country, with residents unable to see loved ones in any meaningful way for fear of sparking outbreaks among vulnerable people.
Thorne, who himself suffered with a suspected bout of coronavirus, has been vocal about conditions in care homes and the lack of personal protective equipment provided to staff and residents. “Care homes for elderly or disabled people seem to be the lowest priority right now,” he tweeted in April after reading about 15 deaths in a Luton care home.
Thorne, a stupendously busy writer who is also behind His Dark Materials and The Aeronauts, has real form in landing powerful and timely dramas for Channel 4 having written National Treasure, Kiri, The Virtues, and The Accident for the UK broadcaster in recent years.
And in casting Comer and Graham, Channel 4 will be uniting two of the UK’s hottest actors. The Liverpudlians have great affection for each other, with Comer personally thanking Graham last year after winning a BAFTA for her breakout role in Killing Eve. The pair first worked together in BBC One’s 2012 series Good Cop.
As well as making National Treasure for Channel 4, the company was also behind Kiri and The Accident. It is also currently making Season 4 of classroom drama Ackley Bridge for the broadcaster.
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