Helen McCrory to star in Fearless TV series on ITV. Pictured with husband Damien Lewis. (Photo: Jaguar PS / Shutterstock.com.)
Helen McCrory will star as Emma Blunt in the new Fearless TV show coming to ITV. Series creator Patrick Harbinson, a Homeland TV series writer and EP, describes the new drama as a “legal thriller,” adding that Fearless is, “…written in the crash zone where law and politics collide.” Filming is set to being in London and East Anglia, in September 2016.
Fearless will be produced by Houdini & Doyle‘s Adrian Sturges and executive produced by Mammoth Screen’s Managing Director, Damien Timmer, Tom Mullens, and Harbinson. Pete Travis is directing the first season, which consists of six one-hour episodes. The series will be distributed internationally by ITV Studios Global. Get the details after the jump, from the ITV press release.
An ITV Studios Company, Mammoth Screen is a UK production company. Its upcoming productions include Poldark season two on BBC One, which premieres on PBS next month, as well as Victoria. The new historical drama stars Jenna Coleman as Queen Victoria. It premieres Sunday, August 28, 2016 in UK on ITV, and in January 2017, on PBS, in the US.
Here’s the press release.
ITV commissions six part drama series Fearless from Mammoth Screen
Acclaimed actress Helen McCrory will play Emma Blunt in Fearless, ITV’s new 6 x 60’ exciting, visceral political thriller.
Fearless is written by Homeland writer and executive producer Patrick Harbinson and produced by leading independent programme makers, Mammoth Screen. Mammoth’s portfolio includes the much-anticipated Victoria starring Jenna Coleman for ITV, popular drama Endeavour also for ITV, the critically-praised mini series And Then There Were None and internationally renowned hit Poldark.
“Fearless is a legal thriller,” said Patrick Harbinson. “But one that’s written in the crash zone where law and politics collide.”
Emma Blunt is a solicitor known for defending lost causes. She’s investigating the killing of a schoolgirl in East Anglia and trying to free the man she thinks was wrongly convicted of the girl’s murder. As she digs ever deeper into the case, she begins to sense powerful forces, in the police and the intelligence services at home and abroad, who want to stop her uncovering the truth.
Patrick Harbinson writes:
“When, three years ago, Damien Timmer asked me if I was interested in writing a legal series inspired by the work of lawyers like Gareth Peirce and Helena Kennedy, I immediately said yes. Much of the work I’ve done in America in the last ten years (24, Person of Interest, Homeland) has been about life in the post 9/11 (and post 7/7) world. The so-called War on Terror has put serious stress on the ordinary workings of the law. National security justifies all sorts of police and state over-reach – and the great majority of us are prepared to accept this. So I wanted to create a character who challenges these assumptions, who fights for those outside the normal run of society, and who is uncompromising, difficult, and completely indifferent to unpopularity and danger. The result was Emma Blunt and Fearless…”
He continued: “I’m delighted that Helen McCrory has agreed to play Emma. She is a complex and contradictory character, and I am incredibly lucky to have someone of Helen’s wit, warmth and intelligence bringing her to life.”
Commented Helen McCrory:
“When l was at drama school l was inspired by Prime Suspect, watching as Britain led the way in creating strong female characters to lead their dramas. l’m thrilled to be leading ITV’s new drama – it’s a thriller that starts deceptively small, then begins crossing borders to different cultures and continents. l knew and admired Patrick Harbinson’s writing for Homeland, and Pete Travis and l have worked together before – that shorthand is so important on such a big project with ambitions running high. I can’t wait to start filming.”
Fearless has been commissioned for ITV by Controller of Drama Victoria Fea.
“Emma Blunt is the kind of character who hates to back down,” said Victoria. “Against all the odds she’s driven by the unfolding mystery of that 2003 murder and whether the killer was unjustly convicted. Fearless is a complex, taut thriller and we’re delighted to be commissioning the series from Mammoth Screen.”
Fearless will be produced by Adrian Sturges (Houdini and Doyle, The Enfield Haunting, The Disappearance of Alice Creed) and executive produced by Mammoth Screen’s Managing Director, Damien Timmer (Victoria, Poldark, And Then There Were None), Tom Mullens (Endeavour, Black Work) and Patrick Harbinson. Developed by Mammoth’s Creative Director Rebecca Keane, the series will be directed by BAFTA winner Pete Travis (The Go-Between, Legacy, Omagh). It will be distributed internationally by ITV Studios Global Entertainment.
Filming will begin in London and East Anglia in September 2016.
What do you think? Do you like the sound of the Fearless TV series? If it makes it to the US, on which network do you think it will land?
