Britain's best writing talent to pen new drama for Channel 4

28 September 2012

Abi Morgan, Bryan Elsley, Peter Flannery and Martine Brant have created three original new drama series for Channel 4, it was announced today by Head of Drama, Piers Wenger.

The new commissions, Home Before Dark, Dates and New World, are part of a new slate of distinctive new drama and a commitment to authored, ambitious original series and serials for 2013 and beyond.

Piers Wenger says; "I am thrilled to announce new dramas by some of Britain's most exciting writers.  Channel 4 is a place where authors can take a big idea and shape it in a unique way. Over the next 12 months there will be a new slate of ambitious series and serials adding range and scale to the drama output on C4 and E4."

Home Before Dark (4 x 60') written by Abi Morgan (Executive produced by Kevin Macdonald, Charles Steel and Alasdair Flind - Cowboy Films)

An international thriller set in Italy, America and London, that follows the hunt for a killer and looks at the way the internet can corrupt, and be corrupted by those who use it.

Dates (9 x 30') written by Bryan Elsley (Balloon Entertainment Ltd)

An original drama series of witty, touching and true half hour episodes about two people, on a date.  Some characters may recur, perhaps going on return dates or having new ones, so the stories gradually start to build around them.  Some characters we'll root for, some we'll hate.   Dates is about the infinite diversity of people, and the complicated, infuriating, hilarious ways we interact with each other.

Bryan Elsley said; "Dates is about the encounter between two people, at the modern precipice of our emotional lives where we come in emotional disguise only to find ourselves at our most exposed. These stories pitch characters straight into the ring with each other. Some of them will sink, some will swim, and some will stagger back for more. We're delighted that Channel 4 has backed our new production company Balloon. We're all about drama and comedy at its best, big or small."

New World (4 x 60') written by Peter Flannery and Martine Brant (Produced by Johann Knobel and executive produced by George Faber and Charlie Pattinson - Company Pictures)

The next chapter of The Devil's Whore meets Angelica, now Countess of Abingdon, in the 1680s.  Torture, show trials, summary executions,... the restored Monarchy of Charles II has betrayed its promise of tolerance and reverted to tyranny.  Behind the opulent decadence of the court, a ruthless terror machine is repressing the liberties won with so much Civil War blood.  Across the Atlantic, the tentacles of State terror have reached the New England colonists who are struggling to throw off the shackles of the English Crown. With the spectre of past horrors returning, Angelica strives to protect her innocent daughter Beth from the perilous world outside the haven of Fanshawe House and England's impending descent into chaos.  Seeking a new life in an untamed land, Beth finds herself torn between love and the ideals for which her mother stood and her father died.  Spanning two continents and the period up to the Glorious Revolution, New World is a gripping story of love and loss and the human price paid for the freedoms we enjoy today.

Peter Flannery and Martine Brant said; "We are thrilled to be writing the continuing story of Angelica and her daughter Beth in the Restoration.  We can't think of a better place than Channel 4 to tell the tale of  the love and courage of  a group of young idealists as they strive together to make the world a better place to live in on both sides of the Atlantic."