The Royal Television Society will be holding a first look at the new ITV drama Litvinenko on Tuesday 22nd November at the British Museum in London, starting at 6pm. The screening of the first episode of the four-part drama will be followed by a discussion hosted by Boyd Hilton, with a panel that includes Marina Litvinenko, the widow of Alexander Litvinenko, on whose story the drama is based.
Also taking part in the event are actor Mark Bonnar, co-producer Richard Kerbaj and director Jim Field Smith. Registration for tickets for the event is open now via this link.
Coming soon from ITVX, Litvinenko, stars David Tennant as
Alexander Litvinenko, the former Russian Federal Security Services and KGB
officer whose death, from Polonium-210 poisoning in November 2006, triggered
one of the most complex and dangerous investigations in the history of the
Metropolitan Police. The four-part drama is the story of the determined New
Scotland Yard officers who worked to prove who was responsible for Litvinenko’s
death.
In November 2006, two police officers were called to
University College Hospital in London to interview Alexander Litvinenko, a
Russian dissident who claimed to have been poisoned on the direct orders of
Vladimir Putin. At the end of a ten year battle the international courts agreed
that Russia, under Putin's leadership, was responsible for his murder. During
the police interviews, Alexander provided meticulous details from his hospital
bedside about the events leading up to his illness, which he knew would prove
fatal. His information would ultimately help detectives track down two Russians
who had poisoned Litvinenko with Polonium-210, a highly toxic radioactive
substance.
The drama also focuses upon the story of Marina, portrayed
by Margarita Levieva (The Deuce, The Blacklist), Alexander’s fearless,
dignified widow who fought tirelessly to persuade the British Government to
publicly name her husband’s killers and acknowledge the role of the Russian
State in his murder.
Litvinenko also stars Mark Bonnar (Catastrophe, Quiz) as
Clive Timmons and Neil Maskell (Small Axe, Utopia) as Brent Hyatt, former New
Scotland Yard officers involved in the investigation.
The series has been directed by Jim Field Smith (Criminal,
Endeavour) and was filmed on location in and around London. Produced by ITV and
Nordic Entertainment Group (NENT Group) it is executive produced by
Patrick Spence for ITV Studios (A Spy Among Friends, Ralph & Katie),
Josephine Zapata Genetay for NENT Group, Lucy Bedford for Tiger Aspect
Productions (Three Little Birds, Viewpoint, The Good Karma Hospital),
George Kay, Jim Field Smith and David Tennant. The co-Producer is Richard
Kerbaj for Livedrop Media (Hunting the KGB Killers, Unmasking Jihadi John:
Anatomy of a Terrorist) and the drama has been produced by Chris May.
Litvinenko has been produced with the support of many
of the key individuals involved in the investigation and subsequent public
inquiry including Clive Timmons and Brent Hyatt, along with Ben Emmerson QC and
Alexander’s family.
Litvinenko will launch on the ITV's new free streaming service
ITVX later in the Autumn. The drama will be one of the flagship productions set
to launch the channel’s re-imagining of the current ITV Hub on-demand
platform and it is expected to be available exclusively on the streamer for at
least 6 months before making its debut on one of the ITV channels. Litvinenko will be distributed
internationally by ITV Studios. In the Nordic region, Baltic region, Poland and
the Netherlands, the series will premiere exclusively on NENT Group’s Viaplay
streaming service. Distribution in other regions has yet to be announced.
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