Start the week with a meeting in Dubrovnik about a new project we are working on. Although I can’t say much about it yet, I can say that Dubrovnik is incredibly beautiful, despite people constantly pointing at places where scenes for Game of Thrones were shot.
On Christmas Eve, Jacob Marley, money-lender and partner to Ebenezer Scrooge, is visiting clients to collect their outstanding debts. His first stop is the Old Curiosity Shop, where old Grandfather is keeping vigil beside the desperately sick Little Nell.
Meanwhile gang-master and pimp Fagin has arranged for street girl Nancy to visit Marley for his evening’s entertainment.
Things take a nasty turn for the money-lender though, and as the clock chimes 9pm, Marley’s dead body is found lying in the snow.
The 20-part series is due to launch over Christmas and is written by former EastEnders writer and Hustle creator Tony Jordan.
The show features some of Charles Dickens’ most popular characters living and interacting on one street. Jacob Marley, Scrooge’s business partner from A Christmas Carol, has been murdered and Inspector Bucket (Stephen Rea, The Honourable Woman) is sent to investigate.
W1A’s Ophelia Lovibond will star alongside Michael Landes, best known for appearing alongside Tamsin Grieg in Love Soup, in new Sky 1 drama Hooten & The Lady.
Landes will play Hooten, an adventurer, who teams up with Lady Alexandra Lindo-Parker (Lovibond) from the British Museum to go in search of lost treasures, from the tomb of Alexander the Great to the Buddha’s missing scroll.
“This is an incredibly ambitious show which I hope will be appointment to view television for a discerning drama audience on Sky 1,” said showrunner Tony Jordan.
