Family feuds drive a gripping new UKTV thriller. Shilpa Ganatra hears how Unforgotten writer Chris Lang fashioned a tale of greed and mistrust.
When a big-name tycoon is found dead under suspicious circumstances, it looks like we’re in for a classic whodunnit. But things change quickly. By the end of episode one of I, Jack Wright, the show has expanded into an explosive family feud involving a legal battle, as Jack Wright’s will is read, revealing that key family members have been frozen out.
The creator of the series, Chris Lang (Unforgotten and The Thief, His Wife and the Canoe), says: “You know it’s going to lead to bun fights for the next 10 years”. UKTV’s Head of Drama, Helen Perry, adds: “The one person who can put the arguments to rest is the very person who can’t because he’s dead.”
Airing on U&Alibi, UKTV’s crime channel, the six-part series stars Trevor Eve (Shoestring, Unforgotten) as the patriarch and Nikki Amuka-Bird as his disinherited wife. John Simm plays the wayward son from a former marriage who is counting on his inheritance to keep his music label running. Daniel Rigby is the son primed to take over as CEO of Wright’s business.
Inheritance is a theme propelling many dramas involving warring families, whether set in corporate America like Succession, on a ranch (Yellowstone) or in the realms of fantasy, like Game of Thrones. But what sets I, Jack Wright apart are the mysteries and idiosyncrasies that often feature in wills.
“Everybody has a will story,” says Lang. “Friends I’ve spoken to have experiences of either getting less or more than expected. Wills are about money, but they also represent love or the perceived lack of it. I, Jack Wright is about the legacy of a toxic patriarch and intergenerational trauma, using wills as a device because they’re one of the most potent expressions of that.”
Judging by the first episode, the fresh, contemporary characters and lavish world they live in will help reel in viewers, with dramatic momentum maintained by glimpses of the future and the clues they provide. The trick is to “end every scene with a question, and every episode with a bigger question”, says Lang.
“Charles Dickens wasn’t a thriller writer, but he was a brilliant novelist. His mantra was: ‘Make them laugh, make them cry, make them wait’. Whodunnits are the quintessence of delayed gratification.”
Which current TV writers does Lang feel are doing notable work? He cites Mike White in the US (the creative force behind The White Lotus) and Sally Wainwright (Happy Valley), Sarah Phelps (Agatha Christie’s TV adaptations) and Jed Mercurio (Line of Duty) in the UK.
“I appreciate when the writer’s vision is fully realised across every discipline. It elevates a show when every department is working at its best to execute that vision,” Lang says. “So many factors must align to make a great show. The score is crucial, as are lighting and cinematography.
“But there are less-celebrated elements, like location scouting. A strong location does 30% of the work for the director and cinematographer by providing a naturally compelling frame. That’s why we prioritise finding the right locations early in production.
“Production design is equally vital. In Unforgotten, our designer played a key role in shaping the series’ environments. For I, Jack Wright, we had to create a world that reflected a character who had already died – his country house, London apartment and Parisian residence all told a story about him. A character’s home can reveal as much about them as their dialogue.”
Overseen by Federation Stories (the UK arm of French production company Federation Studios), the show was filmed at multiple sites in London, Paris, and in and around Watford. Filming began in February 2024 and lasted around three months, with Tom Vaughan (The Singapore Grip, A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder) directing.
Federation Stories MD and executive producer Polly Williams had a similar ambition for the series as Lang. “The will is the central driver in a family drama,” she says. “And there are big investigative and legal strands, and a large ensemble cast featuring such different characters.”
“It has been a real puzzle to put together the funding, but it worked out”
The wider cast includes high-calibre actors such as Rakhee Thakrar and James Fleet. “You want to leave enough room for the subsidiary characters to move into the foreground,” explains Lang, who has already plotted a second and third series of the show.
A complicated funding model involved Scandinavian public broadcasters YLE, DR, NRK, SVT and the Belgian public broadcaster RTBF, as well as UKTV. Even this didn’t quite reach the target. That’s why Federation brought in BritBox in the US, and the BBC, UKTV’s owner. In the UK, UKTV has exclusive rights for a year, leaving the BBC free to show the series.
“It’s a challenging time in TV,” says Williams. “Budgets keep shrinking and commissioners want to say no. It has been a real puzzle to put together [the funding], but it worked out.”
The mix of partners also created a pre-production challenge. Williams says: “This strange model didn’t subscribe to the standard deals for actors’ packages and clearances. So we had to do bespoke deals – all with a large ensemble cast, which was stressful.
“Now I know the impact of having an efficient paper trail, and a dedicated person managing all the legal and financial documents. That part was much more complicated than the creative part.”
Perry says: “We are willing collaborators. We want to make brilliant, prestige drama, and it’s vital to find new ways to partner up and to get things made.”
I, Jack Wright slots in nicely with UKTV’s growing ambition to make original drama. Perry recalls that last year, her first year in the role after moving from ITV: “We had six productions shooting at the same time. Before that, we made around two original dramas every 18 months. We’ll always be a boutique broadcaster by dint of our size, but I hope the calibre of programmes shows we’re ambitious in this space.
“With every original drama, [we need] to not only speak to the audience we’ve got, but to stretch it. With I, Jack Wright, we’re serving the audience who love the intrigue of an investigation, but I hope the family drama element will broaden the audience, too.”
Only the first series has been greenlit, but there is hope that the Wrights’ story will continue for the three series Lang has planned. “The great thing about wills is that there’s always another one, so you have an organic narrative motor,” he says.
“I’d compare the second and third series to a Rubik’s Cube: everything shifts, and the characters find themselves next to different family members, forming new alliances and enemies. By the end, there’s total resolution.”
A neat ending is difficult to imagine, given the explosive start. But where there’s a will, there’s a way.
I, Jack Wright launches on U&alibi on 23 April.
