ITV Commissions ‘The Suspicions Of Mr Whicher II.’
ITV has commissioned, ‘The Suspicions of Mr Whicher II‘, following the success of the April 2011 film on ITV. Paddy Considine will be reprising his role as Jonathan ‘Jack’ Whicher, the real-life pioneering detective who worked in the newly established Detective Branch of the Metropolitan Police during the 19th Century.
Kate Summerscale, writer of the best selling book on which the first film was based has given her blessing to the new fictional story written by BAFTA award-winning and RTS nominated writer Neil McKay (Appropriate Adult, Mo, See No Evil: The Moors Murders), which draws upon historical research into the detective career of Jack Whicher, medical, legal and policing practices of the day and both the criminal world and the apparently respectable Victorian society into which his work led him.
Hat Trick’s Head of Drama Mark Redhead (The Murder of Stephen Lawrence, Bloody Sunday, Bodies) will executive produce the film and Rob Bullock (Case Sensitive, Mutual Friends) will produce. Renowned director Christopher Menaul (Prime Suspect, See No Evil: The Moors Murders, Zen) will direct the film.
Laura Mackie, ITV’s Drama Commissioning team comments: “We’re delighted Paddy Considine has agreed to reprise his role as Jack Whicher, the most celebrated detective of his day. Neil McKay has taken the character and produced a gripping and compelling story”.
Mark Redhead adds: “After Jack Whicher left the Met, he continued with his vocation as a detective as one of the first so-called “private inquiry agents”. This story launches him into that career, and he becomes involved in a disturbing and puzzling murder case which brings him into conflict with powerful figures including his former colleagues in the Metropolitan Police.”
Filming of ‘The Suspicions of Mr Whicher II‘ begins on 7 January 2013 in Oxfordshire, Bedfordshire and central London with Hat Trick Productions producing.
