The BBC is adding “LIFE” to its drama lineup. The new series hails from writer Mike Bartlett and producer Drama Republic, the team behind the popular drama “Doctor Foster,” which was a hit for BBC One in the U.K. and also internationally.
Bartlett is one of the U.K.’s top writers. His new show is set in the northern English city of Manchester, in a large house subdivided into apartments. Billed as an epic saga, the six-parter follows what happens when residents decide to step out of their own personal space and take a closer look into other people’s lives. “LIFE” examines each of the flats and “the belief in the human capacity to connect, to care, to love and to change,” the producers said.
“It’s hugely exciting to be working with Drama Republic and the BBC again, to tell a brand-new, epic story about seemingly ‘ordinary’ people who turn out to be anything but,” said Bartlett, who will also executive produce.
BBC drama chief Piers Wenger added: “Mike’s talent for creating extraordinary characters and recognizing powerful truths in ordinary life singles him out as one of the most popular, compelling writers of our age. ‘LIFE’ is the perfect vessel for all of that talent.”
Ben Irving will executive produce the series for BBC One, and filming gets underway shortly in Manchester. There are no cast details yet. BBC Studios will take the series out internationally. It fared well with “Doctor Foster,” selling it into more than 100 territories and getting remakes underway in France, Russia and South Korea.
Roanna Benn and Jude Liknaitzky will produce for Drama Republic (“Wanderlust”). “We are so happy to be reunited with Mike and the BBC after making ‘Doctor Foster’ together,” they said. “Once again Mike has written a gripping, page-turning, roller-coaster ride of a drama which explores the big things in life in the most exciting and surprising of ways.”