ITV commissions true-life drama Mavis Eccleston on suicide pact gone wrong

UK commercial broadcaster ITV has commissioned a true-life drama based on the heartbreaking story of Mavis and Denis Eccleston.

Polly Hill

Mavis Eccleston centres on a woman who survived a joint suicide pact with her husband of nearly 60 years and was subsequently arrested and charged with his murder.

It stars Penelope Wilton and Jonathan Pryce, is written by Chris Lang, directed by Bruce Goodison and produced by Corestar Media and Bristol-based Indefinite Films.

ITV’s director of drama Polly Hill commissioned the four parter which will star Wilton (After Life, Downton Abbey, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel) and Pryce (Wolf Hall, Slow Horses, The Crown) in the leading roles of Mavis and Dennis Eccleston.

Lang (Unforgotten, The Thief, His Wife and the Canoe, I Jack Wright) has written the series and each of the four episodes will be directed by Goodison (Anne, Doctor Foster, Then Barbara Met Alan), with Kate Cook producing (The Cure, Glasgow Girls, The Watchman).

Having gained the confidence and trust of the Eccleston family, Tom Brittney (Grantchester) brought the project to Corestar and has collaborated on the development of the series.

Hill said: “This is a poignant and powerful real-life story and I’m indebted to the team at Corestar and Indefinite Films for entrusting Mavis Eccleston to ITV where important, socially relevant stories can be told and brought to the attention of a mass audience. It’s ultimately a love story and I’m honoured that Penelope Wilton and Jonathan Pryce have agreed to play Mavis and Dennis.”