Home TV News Sky Commissions Original Drama ‘Little Birds’ for Sky Atlantic and Sci-Fi ‘Intergalactic’ for Sky One

Sky Commissions Original Drama ‘Little Birds’ for Sky Atlantic and Sci-Fi ‘Intergalactic’ for Sky One

by Dave Elliott
Sky Commisions Original Drama 'Little Birds' for Sky Atlantic and Sci-Fi 'Intergalactic' for Sky One

Sky Commisions Original Drama ‘Little Birds’ for Sky Atlantic and Sci-Fi ‘Intergalactic’ for Sky One

Sky has officially appointed Cameron Roach as Director of Drama and Sky Studios, and he’s wasted no time in announcing two brand new, and very different, original dramas to the broadcaster’s output – historical drama Little Birds for Sky Atlantic and sci-fi action-drama Intergalactic for Sky One.

Written by Julie Gearey (‘Prisoners’ Wives’, ‘Cuffs’, ‘Secret Diary of a Call Girl’), ‘Intergalactic’ is set in the 23rd Century and Earth’s space empire exiles its prisoners off-planet. Or at least they did until a crew of fierce and adventurous female crims break free and go on the run, heading… intergalactic.

The series follows Characterful Ash, a young flight cadet falsely imprisoned before becoming embroiled in an audacious prison break-out. Across their perilous escape through space, this disparate gang of dynamic women fight, fall in love and betray each other. But one thing is for certain, the further they travel from Earth, the closer they come to understanding who they truly are.

“With a fierce, funny ensemble at its heart, Intergalactic’s got everything I love about science fiction – action, adventure, monsters – but with its feet firmly on the ground,” comments Gearey. “It’s been a joy to write and I’m excited to have such a creative team to bring it to life.”

The ten-part Sky original production, comes from Moonage Pictures and Motion Content Group in association with Tiger Aspect Productions, and starts shooting later this year. Kieron Hawkes (‘Fortitude’, ‘Power’, ‘Strike’) is set to direct, and it will be exec produced by Will Gould (for Moonage Pictures) and Iona Vrolyk (for Tiger Aspect), along with Julie Gearey. Also executive producing are Frith Tiplady and Matthew Read for Moonage Pictures and Richard Foster and Tony Moulsdale for Motion Content Group.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, ‘Little Birds’ is a playful and intensely evocative adaptation of Anais Nin’s infamous collection of erotic short stories, written by Sophia Al-Maria (‘The Girl Who Fell to Earth’) and directed by Stacie Passon (‘Billions’, ‘House of Cards’).

The series is set in Tangier in 1955, in the famous ‘international zone’ – one of the last outposts of colonial decadence, and a culture shock in more ways than one for troubled American debutante Lucy Savage (Juno Temple).

Thrilled to escape her controlling parents, Lucy arrives full of anticipation for her marriage to her English fiancée, Lord Hugo Cavendish-Smythe (casting TBC) little knowing that Hugo has already lost his heart to someone else. As Lucy fights to carve out her independence and identity, her life becomes intertwined with Cherifa Lamour (Yumna Marwan), a Moroccan dominatrix who services the diplomats and foreigners of this colourful, bohemian world – and they both become entangled with some very dangerous characters, including Egyptian Aristocrat Adham Abaza (Raphael Acloque).

The six-part series weaves stories of love and desire together with personal drama and political intrigue, set against a uniquely distinctive and glamorous backdrop of hedonism and conflict. Provocative, intelligent, emotionally vibrant and unashamedly entertaining, it explores the question at the heart of Anais Nin’s writing: ‘do I have the courage to live my life, my way?’

The drama will be executively produced by Ruth McCance and Peter Carlton from Warp Productions. Filming will begin in Spain and Manchester in March and is set to premiere next year. International distribution is being handled by ITV Studios Global Entertainment.

“Warp Films is truly excited at the opportunity afforded by Sky and our distributor ITV Studios Global Entertainment to welcome viewers to the vivid, provocative and entertaining world of Little Birds,” comments McCance.

These two new dramas were commissioned by Zai Bennett, Director of Programming, and Cameron Roach. Cameron has been Acting Head of Drama since November and prior to that he worked with Anne Mensah across the Sky Original drama portfolio for the last five years, working across titles including ‘Tin Star’, ‘Britannia’, ‘Fortitude’, ‘Riviera’ and ‘Bulletproof’.

“Intergalactic and Little Birds couldn’t be more different, and in that, they represent the ambition of our slate,” adds Roach. “We are thrilled to be venturing into space and Julie Geary’s incredible imagination knows no bounds; whilst the creative team behind Little Birds have raised the bar in terms of creating a provocative piece of television. By putting viewers at the heart of our commissioning strategy I truly believe that we are uniquely placed as a broadcaster to encourage creative talent to bring us their boldest and most innovative ideas and I am thrilled that these two shows are the first I’m able to announce as Director of Sky Drama.”

Little Birds is due to land on Sky Atlantic in 2020, with Intergalactic coming to Sky One.

You may also like

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments