The Diplomat | |
---|---|
Genre |
|
Created by | Ben Richards |
Written by | Ben Richards |
Starring | Sophie Rundle Serena Manteghi Dylan Brady Laia Costa Steven Cree Danny Sapani Isak Férriz Bert Seymour Philipp Boos |
Country of origin |
|
Original languages |
|
No. of series | 1 |
No. of episodes | 6 |
Production | |
Executive producers | Philippa Collie Cousins Simon Heath Martin Rakusen |
Producers | Ken Horn Elizabeth Binns Jordi Utset |
Cinematography | Matt North |
Running time | 60 minutes |
Production companies | |
Original release | |
Network | Alibi |
Release | 28 February 2023 – present |
The Diplomat is a British political thriller series written by Ben Richards and directed by Jill Robertson and Jenny Paddon. [1] It stars Sophie Rundle as Laura Simmonds, a diplomat living in Barcelona, Spain, who works to protect several British nationals who find themselves in trouble. [2] The series is produced by BBC Studios and World Productions for Alibi. [3] [4] It began airing on 28 February 2023.
The series follows British diplomat Laura Simmonds, who, with her Barcelona Consul colleague and friend Alba, is determined to fight in order to protect British nationals involved in a series of conflicts in Barcelona. [5]
On 8 July 2020, The Diplomat was commissioned by British pay television channel Alibi in partnership with BBC Studios as the third UKTV Original for Alibi. [6] Executive producer and UKTV drama commissioner, Philippa Collie Cousins stated that both main characters (Laura Simmonds and Alba Ortiz) "are contrasting professional working women dealing with murder, abductions, and organised crime, alongside managing their careers and love lives." Regarding the writing and storyline, Cousins stated that "it is The Good Wife meets Spooks for 2021, a feisty workplace drama set in Barcelona with cracking dialogue, abundant crime and a surprising series arc. Television to stay in for by the very talented Ben Richards. I am very excited to work with such an expert lead writer as Ben, but equally excited to add talented up and coming writers to the writing team." [7]
On 25 April 2022, Sophie Rundle was cast as lead character Laura Simmonds. [8]
Filming began in April 2022 in Barcelona, Spain.
An unrelated American series with an identical title, set in London and centred on a new United States ambassador to the UK, was announced in 2022, two years after the British series was announced, and released worldwide on Netflix on 20 April 2023, only a few weeks after the UK programme concluded its first series. The British newspaper i quoted an unnamed source close to the UK series as being frustrated by the title choice for the Netflix series, fearing it would confuse viewers and complicate international rights sales for the Alibi series, which are handled by BBC Studios. Neither party has indicated a willingness to change the title to avoid confusion. [9]
No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | UK viewers (millions) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | "Episode 1" | Jill Robertson | Ben Richards | 28 February 2023 | N/A |
2 | "Episode 2" | Jill Robertson | Ben Richards | 7 March 2023 | N/A |
3 | "Episode 3" | Jill Robertson | Lauren Klee | 14 March 2023 | N/A |
4 | "Episode 4" | Jennie Paddon | Amanda Johnson-Zetterström and Lauren Klee | 21 March 2023 | N/A |
5 | "Episode 5" | Jennie Paddon | Ben Richards | 28 March 2023 | N/A |
6 | "Episode 6" | Jennie Paddon | Ben Richards | 4 April 2023 | N/A |
BBC UKTV is an Australian pay television channel in Australia and New Zealand, screening British entertainment programming, sourced mainly from the archives of the BBC, RTL Group and ITV plc. The channel was originally a joint venture with Foxtel, the RTL Group and BBC Worldwide. It is now owned solely by BBC Studios. It is the home of the channel's flagship programme The Graham Norton Show.
UKTV Media Limited, trading as UKTV, is a British multi-channel broadcaster, which, since 2019, has been wholly owned by BBC Studios, a commercial subsidiary of the BBC. It was formed on 1 November 1992 through a joint venture between the BBC and Thames Television. It is one of the United Kingdom's largest television companies.
Alibi is a British premium television channel that was launched on 1 November 1997 as UK Arena. It was renamed UK Drama in 2000, and then UKTV Drama in 2004, and assumed its current name on 7 October 2008.
Dervla Kirwan is an Irish actress. She has received a number of accolades, including two IFTA Awards for her performances in the film Ondine (2009) and the RTÉ thriller series Smother (2021–2023) respectively.
Nicola Jane Walker is an English actress, known for her starring roles in various British television programmes from the 1990s onwards, including that of Ruth Evershed in the spy drama Spooks and DCI Cassie Stuart in Unforgotten (2015–2021). She has also worked in theatre, radio and film. She won the 2013 Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress for the play The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and was twice nominated for the BAFTA TV Award for Best Supporting Actress for the BBC drama Last Tango in Halifax.
A diplomat is someone who represents a government in its relations with other governments. It may also refer to:
U&W is a British free-to-air television channel owned by UKTV, a subsidiary of BBC Studios. It originally launched on 7 October 2008 as Watch and until 2022 was a pay television channel. From 15 February 2016 to 16 July 2024, the channel was known as W.
The Fall is a crime drama television series filmed and set in Northern Ireland. The series, starring Gillian Anderson as Detective Superintendent Stella Gibson, is created and written by Allan Cubitt and features Jamie Dornan as serial killer Paul Spector. It is produced by Artists Studio, and shown on ZDFneo in Germany, RTÉ One in the Republic of Ireland, and BBC Two in the UK.
Sophie Rundle is an English actress. Her television roles include portraying Ada Thorne in Peaky Blinders, Ann Walker in Gentleman Jack, Vicky Budd in Bodyguard, code-breaker Lucy in The Bletchley Circle, Labia in Episodes, and Alice in Jamestown.
Shetland is a Scottish crime drama television series produced by ITV Studios for BBC Scotland. First broadcast on BBC One on 10 March 2013, it is originally based upon the novels of Ann Cleeves and adapted by David Kane. The first seven series starred Douglas Henshall as DI Jimmy Pérez, whilst Ashley Jensen stars as DI Ruth Calder from the eighth series. The cast also includes Alison O'Donnell as DS Alison "Tosh" McIntosh and Steven Robertson as DC Sandy Wilson, as well as Lewis Howden and Anne Kidd. Henshall won the 2016 BAFTA Scotland award for Best Actor and the series received the award for Best TV Drama.
Happy Valley is a British crime drama television series, set and filmed in the Calder Valley, West Yorkshire. Starring Sarah Lancashire, James Norton and Siobhan Finneran, it was written and created by Sally Wainwright and directed by Wainwright, Euros Lyn and Tim Fywell. The first series began on BBC One on 29 April 2014, the second on 9 February 2016, and the third and final series on 1 January 2023. It won the 2015 BAFTA Award for Best Drama Series, and won another BAFTA for Best Drama for the second series.
Matthew Joseph Stokoe is a British actor. He is best known for his roles as Alex in the Channel 4 series Misfits, crime boss Luke Aikens in the thriller Bodyguard, teacher Gerard Eyre in The Village, Captain Marcheaux in series 3 of The Musketeers for the BBC, and as James Read in the Sky 1 series Jamestown. In 2020, he played Gawain in the Netflix original series Cursed.
Ozark is an American crime drama television series created by Bill Dubuque and Mark Williams for Netflix and produced by MRC Television and Aggregate Films. The series stars Jason Bateman and Laura Linney as Marty and Wendy Byrde, a married couple who move their family to the Lake of the Ozarks to continue their work laundering money for a Mexican drug cartel. Bateman also serves as a director and executive producer for the series. The first season was released on July 21, 2017; the second season was released on August 31, 2018; and the third season was released on March 27, 2020. The first three seasons are 10 episodes each. In June 2020, the series was renewed for a fourth and final season consisting of 14 episodes split into two parts; the first part was released on January 21, 2022, and the second was released on April 29, 2022.
Safe is a British drama thriller television miniseries created by crime author Harlan Coben and written primarily by screenwriter Danny Brocklehurst. Set in England, the series is a production by Canal+, with C8 airing the show in France, and Netflix streaming the show internationally outside France. The series began filming in Manchester, Liverpool, and Cheshire in July 2017. It consists of eight episodes that premiered in 190 countries on 10 May 2018. The series' theme song is "Glitter and Gold" by Barns Courtney.
L.A.'s Finest is an American action crime drama television series created by Brandon Margolis and Brandon Sonnier; and produced by Sony Pictures Television. It is a spin-off of the Bad Boys franchise created by George Gallo, starring Gabrielle Union reprising her role from 2003's Bad Boys II, opposite Jessica Alba and an ensemble cast.
Mirren Mack is a Scottish actress, known for portraying Kaya on the BBC drama The Nest, Florence in Sex Education, Queenie in the National Theatre’s 2022 production of Small Island, and Merwyn in the Netflix miniseries The Witcher: Blood Origin.
Traces is a British television crime drama produced by Red Production Company. Co-created and written by Val McDermid and Amelia Bullmore, and based upon an original idea by McDermid, it originally premiered on Alibi on 9 December 2019. The series was rerun on BBC One on 4 January 2021 and Series One began repeating on Drama on 15 January 2022, A second six-episode series was released in February 2022. and was shown on BBC One from 30 March 2024.
Annika is a Scottish black comedy crime drama television series, based on the BBC Radio 4 drama Annika Stranded. Produced by Black Camel Pictures for Alibi and All3Media, the first episode aired on 17 August 2021. It was created by Nick Walker and stars Nicola Walker in the title role.
Ragdoll is an internationally co-produced thriller television series based upon the novel of the same name by Daniel Cole. In the United States, it premiered on AMC+ on November 11, 2021, and in the United Kingdom, it premiered on Alibi on December 6, 2021.
Bookish is an upcoming British crime drama television series from Mark Gatiss.