The BBC has ordered ‘Honey‘, a tender and flirty, slick and dangerous darkly comedic Cold War thriller from Sid Gentle Films Ltd (Killing Eve, Extraordinary), and written by ‘Extraordinary’ creator, Emma Moran.
East Berlin, 1982. Marta, 24, is a deep cover agent for MI6. Surrounded by enemies and constantly under threat of her cover being blown, she tries her hardest to avoid detection by Friedrich Bauman, the new Head of Counter Espionage for the Stasi. Finding herself caught between Friedrich and the reckless, arrogant (and incredibly attractive…) CIA operative Aaron Neeland, she is blindsided by desire in this Cold War menage-a-trois.
The risk of being garrotted or incarcerated is nothing compared to the horrifying ordeal of falling in love. Allowing yourself to be vulnerable and bearing your heart and soul? She’d rather have her fingernails ripped off.
“I’m excited to dig into the sexy madness of our version of Cold War East Berlin,” said Moran “Romantic comedy plus espionage is a dream combination for me.”
Having previously worked as part of the BBC’s Comedy Room development group, Emma Moran went on to become a writer on shows such as ‘Have I Got News For You’ and ‘Newsjack’. During her master’s degree in Manchester, she started writing the astoundingly funny ‘Extraordinary‘ about a girl who grew up in a world where everybody has superpowers, except her. That was picked up by Disney and ran for two seasons on Disney+, and can also be found on ITVX.
“Honey is a smart, playful and irresistible tale of an MI6 agent drawn into a deadly and dysfunctional love triangle,” said Lindsay Salt, Director of BBC Drama. “Set against the backdrop of Berlin in the early 80s, this brilliant new series from Emma and the team at Sid Gentle Films Ltd subverts genre conventions in the best possible way and we’re very proud to have it on the BBC.”
Whilst both ‘Honey’ and ‘Extraordinary’ are basically romantic comedies, I don’t think anyone would have predicted Moran would go from superpowers to Cold War East Germany! Created and written by Moran, the new show is produced by Sid Gentle Films Ltd (Killing Eve, Extraordinary) and is made in association with FIFTH SEASON (Severance, Killing Eve, The Night Manager, Tokyo Vice).
“Set against the stark brutalism of East Germany, the characters and storylines in Honey are smart, violent and highly sexually charged. Emma’s scripts are characteristically take-no-prisoners, witty, sophisticated and pacy while quietly and desperately romantic,” adds Sally Woodward Gentle. “We are delighted to be working with the partnership of the BBC and ZDF and thrilled to once more join forces with FIFTH SEASON.”
‘Honey’ is a six-episode series and was commissioned by Lindsay Salt, Director of BBC Drama, for BBC iPlayer and BBC One and Frank Seyberth, Head of Coproduction, International Fiction, for German broadcaster ZDF. It is made by Sid Gentle Films Ltd, a BBC Studios’ owned production label, for the BBC and ZDF. Emma Moran is the lead writer and executive producer. Emme Hoy (Renegade Nell) is also a writer on the series. It is executive produced by Sally Woodward Gentle and Lee Morris for Sid Gentle Films Ltd and the producer is Christopher Hall.
‘Honey‘ does not have a premiere date yet, but will air on BBC iPlayer and BBC One in the UK, and on ZDF in Germany. If you want to keep track of these or any other shows, you can add them via our Never Miss system, and you’ll be notified when it gets a UK premiere date.
