‘Shameless’ star leads 4-part drama
Anne-Marie Duff (Shameless, Nowhere Boy, The Virgin Queen) will lead the cast of new 4-part, BBC One psychological crime drama, From Darkness.
Written by Katie Baxendale (Sugar Rush), Anne-Marie Duff stars as Claire Church, a former police officer who left the Greater Manchester Police (GMP) in the mid-Nineties after the impact of violence became too overwhelming for her to continue.
Anne-Marie Duff says: “Katie Baxendale has created a beautifully complex character in her female protagonist. As soon as I started to read episode one I felt excited at the prospect of being involved. It’s a world in which all of the characters have real stories to tell. Also I loved the BBC series The Village and one of its directors, Dominic Leclerc, will be our director on this. I couldn’t be happier.”
Claire Church decided to turn her back on a world of misogyny and chauvinism, where it seemed you had to think and act like a man to succeed. Finding herself ignored in the office and second place in her relationship with her married DI, Claire instead found solace in the remote Western Isles with her new man, Norrie, and daughter Megan.
As four bodies from Claire’s past investigations are unearthed, she finds herself getting pulled back into a world she’d long since left behind and a case that only she can solve. Battling her own demons, Claire feels the dual pull of a vocation that sustained her and a man she once loved, but can she protect herself from the darkness this time?
Katie Baxendale says: “I’m a huge fan of Anne-Marie Duff. In Claire, I hope I’ve created a psychologically complex lead female character and I can’t wait to see all that Anne-Marie brings to the role.”
Hilary Martin, Head of BBC Drama North and Executive Producer, says: “We’re thrilled that the stunningly talented Anne-Marie Duff will bring the emotionally compelling Claire Church to life for a BBC One audience. We are delighted to have assembled such a talented team on both sides of the camera to do justice to Katie Baxendale’s brilliant script.”
From Darkness was developed by BBC Drama North from an original pitch as part of a BBC Writersroom scheme. Dominic Leclerc (Call The Midwife, The Village) will direct the series.
From Darkness begins shooting in Manchester and Scotland in March.
