Dark Angel | |
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Genre | Crime drama Thriller |
Based on | Mary Ann Cotton: Britain's First Female Serial Killer by David Wilson |
Written by | Gwyneth Hughes |
Directed by | Brian Percival |
Starring | |
Theme music composer | Michael J McEvoy |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Original language | English |
No. of series | 1 |
No. of episodes | 3 |
Production | |
Executive producer | Gwyneth Hughes |
Producer | Jake Lushington |
Running time | 180 minutes (inc. advertisements) |
Production company | World Productions |
Original release | |
Network | ITV |
Release | 31 October – 7 November 2016 |
Dark Angel is a British three-part television drama miniseries, based on the adaptation of the book Mary Ann Cotton: Britain's First Female Serial Killer by David Wilson. [1] The series was broadcast on 31 October and 7 November 2016, and starred Joanne Froggatt as protagonist Mary Ann Cotton, widely regarded as Britain's first known female serial killer, who was found guilty of murder in March 1873 for the murder of three of her husbands, allegedly in order to collect on their insurance policies. [2] The series was produced by World Productions and distributed by Endemol Shine. [3] [4]
The series co-starred Alun Armstrong as Mary Ann's step-father, George Stott, and Jonas Armstrong as her main love interest, Joe Nattrass. Penny Layden, Laura Morgan, Sam Hoare, and Emma Fielding also took starring roles in the two-part drama.[ citation needed ]
In July 2015, production and filming began on Dark Angel, [5] [6] starring Joanne Froggatt of Downton Abbey as Mary Ann Cotton. Alun Armstrong, Jonas Armstrong and Emma Fielding also had roles in the series. [7] Inspired by the book Mary Ann Cotton: Britain's First Female Serial Killer, the drama used writer David Wilson as a consultant during the script-writing stage. The drama is the seventh in a series of ITV mini-series featuring notorious British murder cases of the past two centuries, following on from This Is Personal: The Hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper (2000), Shipman (2002), A Is for Acid (2002), The Brides in the Bath (2003), See No Evil: The Moors Murders (2006), and Appropriate Adult (2011). It was followed by an eighth ITV mini-series entitled White House Farm and a ninth entitled Des (both 2020). [8]
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