Chunnel to star in TV series The Tunnel
The control tower at
tunnel HQ - an unlikely 'star' of a murder mystery
by business editor Trevor Sturgess
The Channel Tunnel is to star in a 10-part television murder
thriller.
The Anglo-French production by Sky Atlantic and broadcaster
CANAL+ is
called, naturally, The Tunnel.
A film crew has been working inside the service tunnel, and also
used Discovery Park, the former Pfizer site at Sandwich, as a set
for some of the action.
The series will boost Kent's burgeoning reputation for good film
locations following on the success of Les Miserables and Great
Expectations which both used Chatham Historic Dockyard.
Ben Richards, who wrote Spooks, Outcasts and Party Animals,
heads up the
writing team behind the series, which is set mainly in Folkestone
and Calais.
It is inspired by hit Scandinavian murder drama The Bridge,
which involved a
murder victim lying on a bridge exactly on the Danish-Swedish
border and
involving two police forces. The Tunnel is set against the backdrop
of
Europe in crisis.
When a
prominent French politician is found dead on the border between
the
UK and France, detectives Karl Roebuck and Elise Wassermann are
sent to
investigate on behalf of their respective countries.
On its website, Sky says the case “takes a surreal turn when a
shocking
discovery is made at the crime scene, forcing the French and
British police
into an uneasy partnership.
As the serial killer uses ever more elaborateand ingenious
methods to highlight the moral bankruptcy of modern society, Karl
and Elise are drawn deeper into his increasingly personal
agenda.”
The series stars Stephen Dillane and French actress Clémence
Poésy in an
Anglo-French cast.
Dillane starred in Sky Atlantic’s “Game of Thrones,” while Poésy
appeared
in “Birdsong.”
Joining them are Joseph Mawle, who will play social worker
Stephen Beaumont, and Tom Bateman as UK journalist Danny Hillier,
who unintentionally becomes caught in the serial killer’s web.
Ashes To Ashes’ Keeley Hawes and Liz Smith of The Royle Family)
join them from episode two.
Other cast members include Tobi Bakare, Jeanne Balibar, Thibault
de
Montalembert, Mathieu Carrièrre, Angel Coulby, Jack Lowden will
also star.
The series is due to be broadcast later this year.
06/03/13
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