Birger Larsen Makes UK Debut

The Killing Director Birger Larsen makes his UK debut with new BBC Two drama Murder, starring Karla Crome (Hit And Miss); Lara Rossi (Tender Napalm) and Joe Dempsie (Skins, Game of Thrones).

The director behind the critically acclaimed Danish series The Killing says: “I can say without exaggeration that it was the best script I have seen since The Killing. I was attracted to the fact that it’s written in such a way that the actors talk direct to camera. It feels original and intimate. You’re drawn into their world – you see it through their eyes,”

The story centre’s on Sisters Coleen (Karla Crome) and Erin (Lara Rossi) who have an intense and volatile relationship. All they have is each other. They meet Stefan (Joe Dempsie) who is passing through town, hours later one of them is dead. All we have to go on is what the two survivors tell us. Who did it? And why?

Writer Robert Jones, together with producer Kath Mattock, spent months in the public galleries of the Old Bailey researching. Using personal testimony, Murder revisits the missing moments in search of the truth. Intercut with CCTV footage, flashback and forensic evidence, the protagonists speak direct to camera giving their version of events, one after the other. Although Murder never enters the courtroom, it uses the same principle: the protagonists get to tell their story, and we get to judge who and what we believe. But where does the truth lie when the different versions don’t add up?

“Robert Jones has found a really fresh and innovative way of telling crime stories and in doing so has created a unique format. It is a testament to the strength of his script that such a strong team has been brought together both in front of and behind the camera,” said BBC Executive Producer, Matthew Read.

The cast also includes: Stephen Dillane (The Hours, Game Of Thrones) as Defence QC Arlo Raglin; Robert Pugh (Justice, Game Of Thrones) as D.I Sheehy; Lauren Socha (Misfits) as Deena; Kate Donnelly (Buried) as the pathologist; and newcomer Darren Campbell as Coleen’s boyfriend, Heskett Jupp.

Murder is co-created by Robert Jones and Kath Mattock, (the writer/producer team behind the BAFTA-winning series Buried for Channel 4); Directed by Birger Larsen; Produced by Kath Mattock; Executive Producer is Rob Pursey and BBC Executive Producer: Matthew Read

Murder will air on BBC Two.