BBC2, Netflix prep thriller Collateral

The UK’s BBC2 and global streaming giant Netflix have ordered a thriller set in London and starring Carey Mulligan.

Piers Wenger

Collateral (4×60′) is described as “a gripping, high-octane” drama and is the first original series from playwright David Hare. Mulligan (An Education) stars opposite John Simm (Life on Mars) and Billie Piper (Doctor Who, Penny Dreadful), while SJ Clarkson (Dexter) will direct.

The show will premiere on BBC2 and is coproduced by The Forge and Netflix. Executive producers are creator Hare, George Faber and Mark Pybus for The Forge, Lucy Richer for the BBC and Clarkson.

Netflix will release the series globally outside the UK, with All3Media International handling other international sales.

The drama is set over four days and explores the spiralling repercussions surrounding the fatal shooting of a pizza delivery man as a detective delves into the murder.

Piers Wenger, controller of BBC drama, said: “Collateral is a highly imaginative, thought-provoking and utterly contemporary state-of-the-nation thriller written by Britain’s foremost political dramatist.

“It is a great honour to welcome Sir David Hare back to the BBC and to be working with both he and The Forge on this outstanding piece of original work.”

Netflix has been upping its originals over the past 18 months and boarded three high-profile European dramas as a coproducing partner earlier this year, including the BBC’s forthcoming epic Troy: Fall of a City.

The show is being produced for BBC1 by UK prodco Wild Mercury in association with Endemol Shine Group’s Kudos and is centred on the events of the Trojan War. It was created by The Night Manager scribe David Farr.