The writer of an award-winning drama on the murder of Damilola Taylor is to return with a new series exploring the impact of parents accepting hush money for a crime against their son.
Damilola, Our Loved Boy writer Levi David Addai has had Dark Mon£y commissioned by BBC One as part of four new fictional dramas for the channel unveiled on Wednesday.
The four-part drama follows a London family who accept a substantial pay-off from a renowned film-maker to keep silent about the abuse of their youngest son.
Piers Wenger, controller of BBC Drama, labelled the series a “perfect morality tale for today,” adding it was “timely but with a big existential question at its heart”.
Also announced is Gold Digger, a six-part drama series written by Thirteen creator Marnie Dickens which follows a wealthy 60-year-old woman as she falls in love with a man 25 years her junior and Ben Chanan’s The Capture which is described as a “spy show for the modern era” as it shines a light on surveillance culture and manipulated evidence.
Meanwhile Andrea Gibb’s Elizabeth Is Missing, based on the best-selling novel by Emma Healey, explores one woman’s struggle with dementia combined with a mystery as her best friend goes missing in a one-off 90-minute drama.
Casting is yet to be announced for the four dramas which come from writers with a “strong diversity of voice,” Wenger said.
“From Marnie Dickens’ explosive new family drama Gold Digger to Levi David Addai’s timely and provocative morality tale Dark Mon£y, to Ben Chanan’s electric conspiracy thriller The Capture and Andrea Gibbs’ part-detective story Elizabeth is Missing, each of these four dramas demonstrate a commitment to telling stories about life in Britain now.
“We are honoured to be working with such fresh and original voices to bring them to life,” he added.