AMC Networks captures BritBox’s Beast

The Beast Must Die stars Jared Harris

AMC Networks has picked up scripted revenge thriller The Beast Must Die, which it will air on its US cablenet AMC and on-demand service AMC+ later this year.

Produced in partnership with BritBox UK, New Regency Television International and Ridley Scott’s Scott Free, the six-parter tells the story of a grieving mother who infiltrates the life of the man she believes killed her son.

The drama, based on the novel by Nicholas Blake, was one of the first original scripted commissions by BBC and ITV joint-venture streamer BritBox when it launched in the UK last year.

It stars Jared Harris (Chernobyl, The Crown, The Terror, Mad Men), Cush Jumbo (The Good Wife, The Good Fight, Deadwater Fell), Billy Howle (The Serpent, MotherFatherSon, On Chesil Beach), Nathaniel Parker (The Inspector Lynley Mysteries, The Outcast, Vanity Fair) and Geraldine James (Downton Abbey, Back to Life, Anne with an E).

The series is directed by Dome Karukoski (Tolkien, Tom of Finland) and produced by Sarada McDermott (Bridgerton, Official Secrets). It has been adapted for the screen by screenwriter Gaby Chiappe (Their Finest, Shetland, Vera).

The executive producers are Ed Rubin and Emma Broughton for New Regency, Marina Brackenbury and David W Zucker for Scott Free, and Nathaniel Parker and Gaby Chiappe. Endeavor Content brokered the deal on behalf of New Regency and Scott Free.

Dan McDermott, president of original programming at AMC Networks, said: “The Beast Must Die honours the novel upon which it is based with a fantastic piece of television that cuts to the heart of grief, hate, revenge and allows us to ask questions about our own humanity in a remarkably engaging and suspenseful way.”