EXCLUSIVE: The in-demand creators of The Salisbury Poisonings and Blue Lights have landed on their next project, a political thriller about investigative journalism for the BBC.
Declan Lawn and Adam Patterson are developing D-Notice, the first project to emerge from their nascent Sony-backed label Hot Sauce.
Plot details are being kept under wraps and D-Notice is still in early stages but the title refers to a mechanism which allows the government to advise journalists about national security. The duo are former investigative journalists for BBC Panorama and so have the chops to put the show together.
Lawn and Patterson are becoming some of the BBC’s most prolific creatives. They were behind hit factual drama The Salisbury Poisonings and followed that up with Northern Irish cop show Blue Lights, which is currently onto Season 4. They recently launched Hot Sauce, which joined Left Bank and Bad Wolf in the Sony stable.
Watch on Deadline
BBC drama boss Lindsay Salt told Deadline D-Notice is reminiscent of thrillers like Paul Abbott’s State of Play. “I wanted to make sure we were keeping them in the BBC because they are some of the best writers out there,” said Salt. “We were talking to them about a few ideas and felt we hadn’t done a really juicy conspiracy thriller recently. They came back with D-Notice.“
Three years into joining the BBC, Salt delved deep into her strategy in an exclusive interview with Deadline this morning, while revealing two more shows.
‘Shy & Lola’ & ‘1536‘
One is Shy & Lola from Baby Reindeer maker Clerkenwell Films, which stars The Night Manager’s Hayley Squires and Bel Powley, who can soon be seen in HBO’s Harry Potter playing Aunt Petunia. That one follows two women forced to become allies when a murder entangles them in the criminal underworld operating in Shy’s small coastal town in the North of England. Amanda Coe is penning Shy & Lola.
The other is a TV version of The Great writer Ava Pickett‘s play 1536. Set in the heart of Tudor England against the backdrop of Anne Boleyn’s arrest, 1536 centers around Anna, Mariella and Jane: three young women gossiping, arguing and dreaming in an Essex village, desperately waiting for their lives to start. When news reaches them that King Henry VIII has had his Queen, Anne Boleyn, arrested, the three of them never suspect that this act will change their lives forever. Pickett was previously developing a similar series for Sky.
Salt said she commissioned 1536 “completely on instinct” after watching Pickett’s play, positing her as one of the most exciting voices in the UK today. The 1536 series is being adapted by One Day producer Drama Republic.