Luther scribe gets BBC commission for Euston

Luther creator Neil Cross is making Hard Sun, a new series for BBC One and the first order for FremantleMedia prodco Euston.

Euston is the drama prodco brand that FremantleMedia reinstated last year, bringing BBC drama boss Kate Harwood in to run the business.

Hard Sun is billed as a pre-apocalyptic drama. Set in contemporary London, it follows a pair of detectives attempting to enforce the law as the world slips ever closer towards an environmental disaster.

The 6x60mins series will be on BBC One, and FremantleMedia International retains rights and will handle distribution.

Kate Harwood executive produces for Euston, with Elizabeth Kigarriff doing the same for BBC One, the BBC’s flagship channel. Casting will be announced in due course, with filming taking place in London.

Polly Hill, controller, BBC drama commissioning ordered the series. She said: “Neil has written a crime series that is bold, ambitious, relevant and dark but it’s also very moving and told through complex extraordinary characters.

“I am also pleased that this is Euston Film’s first commission and this really does promise to be an original and compelling drama for 2017.”

Hill commissioned the show with BBC One controller Charlotte Moore.

“We are delighted and proud that the first commission for a rebooted Euston Films is a Neil Cross project of such scale and nerve,” said Euston’s Harwood. “The concept of Hard Sun is characteristically bold, richly peopled and of course deliciously scary.”

The fourth season of Cross’s current BBC One drama, Luther (pictured), debuts in the UK on December 15.