Dougray Scott (Crime, Exterritorial, Enigma, Vigil) will star in the upcoming 8 x 45’ BBC drama series Crookhaven.
Commissioned by BBC Children’s & Education and made by BBC Studios Kids & Family Productions, Scott will play the role of Caspian Lockett, the headmaster and leader of the secretive Crookhaven, a school for crooks where students learn how to hone their skills in order to do good. Claire Forlani (Meet Joe Black, In The Name of The King, Industry) also joins the cast playing mysterious Carmen, the wife of Caspian [Scott].
Joining Scott is a cast including Keith Allen (Shallow Grave, Trainspotting, Kingsman, Marcella, Bodies) and Naomi Wirthner (Slow Horses, Alex Rider) as well as an ensemble of talent who play the high achieving, hand-picked Crookhaven students sharing credits such as Adolescence, Game of Thrones, Heartstopper and The Witcher.
Gabriel Avery is played by Lucas Leach (FBI International) alongside Headmaster’s daughter, Penelope, played by Carmel Laniado (The Witcher, Dolittle, A Christmas Carol). The other Crooklings are played by Amari Bacchus (Adolescence); Leila Khan (Heartstopper, Death in Paradise); Sani Thabo (Casualty, Everything Now); Tipper Seifert-Cleveland (Cruella, Krypton, Game of Thrones); Aerona Shi (Goldie’s Oldies); Charlie Mann (Virdee, The Watched) and Rowan McIntosh (The Chelsea Detective). Also starring are Genesis Lynea (Silent Witness, Casualty, Death in Paradise), Alex Mugnaioni (Mr Sloane) and Imran Yusuf (Wanderlust, The Missing).
Created for television by Justin Young (Death In Paradise, Sandition, Dickensian, Ripper Street), the series is based on the hit global book series by JJ Arcanjo and is set in a school where students are trained to perfect their unusual skills to bring balance, justice and order to the outside world. It will premiere on BBC iPlayer early next year.
Screenwriter Justin Young says: “From the moment my daughters and I read the first Crookhaven book, I knew it had the potential to be a thrilling, timeless series for the whole family. Bringing the Crookhaven world to life has been a glorious adventure, and it’s both an honour and a thrill to be working with such an extraordinarily talented cast and crew — truly a dream mix of industry legends and dazzling new faces.”
Patricia Hidalgo, Director BBC Children’s and Education says: “Crookhaven, an adaptation from the already successful books will make a gripping Kids & Family TV Drama series, with intriguing characters, ingenious plot twists and dark secrets. We know it will resonate strongly at home and abroad, and we could not be more excited to bring such high-end production together with tremendous wealth of acting talent to our line up.”
Tali Walters, Creative Director at BBC Studios Kids and Family productions, says: “Dougray’s track record of portraying characters who operate in morally grey areas, to which he brings intensity and emotional complexity, matches perfectly with the spirit of Caspian. Alongside Dougray we have an exciting ensemble of young talent, the next generation of actors already making their mark and I’m incredibly proud of the cast we’ve put together. It is testament to the exceptional scripts penned by Justin and the fantastic storytelling of JJ, who has created multidimensional and memorable characters, that will resonate with audiences of all ages.”
Crookhaven is made by BBC Studios Kids & Family Productions for the BBC with support from Northern Ireland Screen and led by an award-winning team with Tali Walters as Creative Lead, Mark Freeland (Dodger, The Wrong Mans, The Thick of It, Miranda) as Executive Producer, Jon East (Killing Eve, Downton Abbey, Lost in Space, The Last Kingdom) as director and Leon McGeown-Fee (Dalgliesh, London Kills, Hope Street) as Producer. The series was commissioned by Sarah Muller, Senior Head of BBC Children’s Commissioning 7+ and the Commissioning Editor for the BBC is Amy Buscombe. International distribution is being handled by BBC Studios.
Jon Creamer
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