Anne-Marie Duff and Rafe Spall will star in “Salisbury,” the fact-based BBC drama about the poisoning of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the southwestern English city.
Duff (“Shameless”) and Spall (“The War of the Worlds”) will star alongside Mark Addy (“Game of Thrones”), Annabel Scholey (“Britannia”), Johnny Harris (“Jawbone”) and MyAnna Buring (“Ripper Street”).
The alleged assassination attempt on the Skripals, using the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok, caused an international uproar. Britain accused Russia of being behind the attack, which the Skripals survived, but the Kremlin denied involvement. The incident led to the pullout of diplomats from Russia by several Western countries in solidarity with Britain.
The three-part TV drama will focus on the impact the incident had on the local community and recount the story of how ordinary people and public services reacted to the crisis on their doorstep.
“It’s a privilege to be able to tell the story of people who were deeply affected by the events in Salisbury,” said series writers Adam Patterson and Declan Lawn. “During our months of research, we have been humbled to hear their stories and to be able to tell them in this drama.”
Fremantle-backed Dancing Ledge is producing. the executive producers are Laurence Bowen and Chris Carey for Dancing Ledge, Lucy Richer for the BBC, and Patterson and Lawn.
Saul Dibb (“Bullet Boy”) directs. Fremantle is handling international sales.