Danny Boyle attached to new Channel 4 drama

Director Danny Boyle will return to television to direct a new drama, Babylon, which also has the writers of long-running comedy Peep Show attached.

Babylon, which is currently in early stage development. Boyle is best known for movies such as Trainspotting and Slumdog Millionaire, and also directed the acclaimed opening ceremony of the London Olympic Games for BBC One in summer 2012.

Peep Show writers Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain are attached to write the pilot.

Meanwhile, C4’s head of drama Piers Wenger has commissioned New Pictures, Charlie Pattinson’s fledgling prodco, to create 10-part series Indian Summer, about British colonial rule in India. PBS in the US will coproduce and broadcast it as part of its Masterpiece strand.

The Maudsley (WT), meanwhile, is a doc series about mental illness in the UK. The Garden, recently acquired by ITV Studios, will produce the 4x60mins show; and Bouncers is a six-part doc about nightclub doormen from Liesel Evans at Century Films.

The announcements came during the Edinburgh International Television Festival and were made by Channel 4’s chief creative officer Jay Hunt. The under-fire executive addressed rumours she may be about to exit the channel, saying: “I haven’t applied for any job, nor have I talked to anybody about a job.”