Channel 4 opts for more Utopia!

Channel 4 has recommissioned conspiracy thriller, Utopia for a second series of six episodes.

Written and created by Dennis Kelly and made by production company Kudos, the series stars; Fiona O’Shaughnessy, Adeel Akhtar, Paul Higgins, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Alexandra Roach, Oliver Woollford and Neil Maskell and ended with Jessica Hyde being tricked and injured by ‘The Network’, the very people she’d been running from since childhood.

Despite the first series only attracting an average audience of 1.37 million and drawing complaints to Ofcom about its violence and use of child actors in the series, it was still critically acclaimed and attracted a fan following.

Head of Drama Piers Wenger says: “Thanks to Dennis Kelly’s uncompromising and brilliant writing and Marc Munden’s visionary direction, the first series of Utopia shocked and delighted critics and fans by turns. Following the success of the first run, we are thrilled to announce further adventures for Utopia’s eclectic cast of characters even stranger, more imaginative and brilliantly intriguing than the first”.

Jane Featherstone, chief executive of Kudos, the independent producer responsible for Utopia, said the drama had received “phenomenal audience response”. “This means we all get the chance to watch as Dennis unravels his unique and imaginative world even further.”

The series will again be written by Dennis Kelly (Matilda, Spooks), produced by Kudos Film & Television for Channel 4, with Karen Wilson (Hustle, Spooks), Jane Featherstone (Spooks, Life on Mars, The Hour) and Dennis Kelly Executive Producing. Marc Munden will return to direct and will Bekki-Wray Rogers is producing.

Utopia Series 2 goes into production later this year.