The BBC has landed on what it hopes will be its next big adaptation, a TV series version of Caleb Azumah Nelson‘s buzzy debut Open Water, while drama boss Lindsay Salt has outlined ambitions for a new crime show that “tests the boundaries.”
Open Water follows Marcus and Effie. From the moment they meet, they feel an immediate, undeniable connection. But, as Marcus soon learns, Effie is in a relationship with Marcus’ friend Samuel. It’s a boundary that Marcus is unwilling to cross, but a shared project, photographing and documenting Black creatives in London, draws them into each other’s orbit.
Banijay-backed Mam Tor, which is also producing Richard Gadd’s next project, is making the series alongside Newen Studios-backed B-Side Productions, with Nelson serving as the drama’s lead writer, director and executive producer. Open Water was critically acclaimed when it was published in 2021 and Nelson’s second novel, Small Worlds, is also being adapted by Brock Media.
Nelson said: “I can’t wait for viewers not only to meet Marcus and Effie but to step into their world: their private, intimate spaces, their communities, their desires.”
The news was unveiled by BBC drama boss Lindsay Salt at Content London. She said that Azumah Nelson is “another example of us backing a first time TV writer” as she stressed the corporation’s commitment to risk-taking in the round. “He is one of those extraordinary voices and we are going to go on to see a great many things,” added Salt.
Turning attention to crime
Salt joined two years ago from Netflix. She has greenlit high-profile projects including Richard Gadd’s Half Man, Michaela Coel’s First Day on Earth with HBO and Dear England starring Joseph Fiennes. The first show commissioned under her watch to make it to screen was The Jetty starring Jenna Coleman.
Today, Salt said she is seeking a new crime show that “tests the boundaries a bit,” as she harked back to BBC hits like Luther, Happy Valley and The Fall, which shifted the dial.
“I have barely commissioned any [crime],” she said. ” So I guess there is probably a bit of a moment now where I’m thinking, ‘It’s been long enough since Happy Valley, what is the next iteration of detective crime or puzzle solving?’ But it would have to be in a way that I definitely feel like we’re evolving the genre. We’re quite particular about it but only because I feel like we have a responsibility to test the boundaries a bit.”
Salt’s colleagues in the comedy department have been basking in the glow of the success of Ludwig, the David Mitchell-starring detective puzzle comedy that has been winning the ratings war.
Turning to co-pros, Salt noted there is less American money around due to a “really tricky time at the moment” but said this affords opportunities to make shows with others, especially in Europe, backing up recent research on the state of the industry at present.
Salt said the BBC can “get a bit scrappy about it and find some new rules” when it comes to financing, as Americans tighten the purse strings, although she noted the BBC still makes plenty shows with co-producers across the pond.
She also updated on big upcoming series including Lord of the Flies, a Jack Thorne adaptation of the iconic novel that she showed first footage of – a series of rushes in their early stages.
She said she had “practically cried” when she read the first scripts of Dear England due to its “brilliant emotional storytelling.” She also hailed Riot Women, the new series from Happy Valley creator Sally Wainwright.
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