ITV Orders ‘Manhunt II: The Night Stalker’ starring Martin Clunes
There doesn’t seem to be a week that goes by at the moment without an announcement from ITV about a new true-crime drama, and this week is no exception. The UK broadcaster has commissioned, and begun filming, ‘Manhunt II: The Night Stalker‘ which sees Martin Clunes return in a follow up to the 2019 series.
The sequel to the critically acclaimed drama ‘Manhunt’, sees Clunes once again play former London Metropolitan Police detective, DCI Colin Sutton. The four-part drama is the real-life story of the police pursuit of a notorious serial rapist, whose 17-year reign of terror left thousands of elderly people in south-east London living in fear. As with Season 1, the drama is based on Sutton’s diaries.
“We are very pleased that ITV have given us the opportunity to dramatise another important case that Colin Sutton was involved in just before his retirement from the Force,” commented exec producer Philippa Braithwaite. “This inquiry has a very different emphasis to the Bellfield case; the victims were elderly and the crimes were unsolved for many years. The drama explores how Colin came late to the inquiry and helped solve it in a matter of weeks, taking an incredibly dangerous serial rapist off the streets.”
‘Manhunt II The Night Stalker’ is written by Ed Whitmore (‘Silent Witness’, ‘Rillington Place’, ‘Strike Back’), who also wrote the first series of ‘Manhunt’, which told the real-life story of how the murder of Amelie Delagrange on Twickenham Green in 2004 was eventually linked to the murder of Marsha McDonnell in 2003 and the abduction and murder of Milly Dowler as she travelled home from school in 2002.
The first series of ‘Manhunt’, which followed DCI Sutton’s tenacious pursuit of serial killer Levi Bellfield, attracted an average audience of nine million viewers, and was the highest-rated new drama on any channel during 2019. The drama also won many plaudits for Martin Clunes’ portrayal of the dedicated detective.
The ‘Manhunt’ series is produced by Buffalo Pictures. The executive producer is Philippa Braithwaite, the producer is Jo Willett, the co-producer is Evie Bergson-Korn, the director is Marc Evans. The stories are by Colin Sutton and Ed Whitmore, who is also an executive producer.
“I’m delighted that Martin Clunes will play DCI Colin Sutton once again, taking on a case that had gone unsolved for almost two decades,” adds ITV’s Head of Drama, Polly Hill. “The team behind the first Manhunt – Ed Whitmore, Marc Evans, along with Buffalo and Philippa Braithwaite – will make sure this is another compelling and respectful dramatisation of a truly shocking crime that affected so many families.”
Although ITV has only announced commissioning the drama today, filming of ‘Manhunt II: The Night Stalker‘ has already begun, with the premiere expected to land in 2021.
