It's the start of a new week and that means it's time for a brand-new roundup of crime drama news:
THE BIG SCREEN/MOVIES
Miramax has handed worldwide distribution rights for Confess, Fletch, starring Jon Hamm, to Paramount Global Content. The film will simultaneously receive a limited release in theaters and debut on PVOD Sept. 16 before premiering on Showtime Oct. 28. Directed by Greg Mottola (Adventureland) from a script by Zev Borow (Lethal Weapon), the comedy-noir is an updated take on the "Fletch" character based on Gregory Mcdonald’s 1970 mystery novels. Hamm produced and stars as the title character, Irwin M. Fletcher, an investigative reporter and former Marine. While Chevy Chase first brought him to life in the 1985 screwball comedy, the reboot is inspired by the second novel in the series and promises to take on a slightly darker tone. Joining Hamm onscreen is fellow Mad Men alum, John Slattery, as well as Marcia Gay Harden, Kyle MacLachlan, Annie Mumolo, Lorenza Izzo, Ayden Mayeri, and Roy Wood Jr.
Wonder Woman actress Connie Nielsen is joining the thriller, Role Play, opposite Kaley Cuoco, David Oyelowo, and Bill Nighy. The Thomas Vincent-directed pic revolves around a married couple (Cuoco and Oyelowo) whose lives turn upside down when secrets come out about each other’s pasts. Nighy portrays a mysterious stranger who comes into their lives. Nielsen's role, however, has not yet been disclosed. Seth Owen co-wrote the project with Andrew Baldwin, while George Heller conceived the idea and serves as Executive Producer.
Frank Grillo has joined the action-thriller, Black Lotus, starring eleven-time world kickboxing champion, Rico Verhoeven. In the film from director Todor Chapkanov (Viking Quest), Verhoeven plays the role of special forces officer Matteo Donner, consumed by guilt after his best friend dies while on a joint mission. When he winds up back in his home city of Amsterdam, he ends up in a one-man war as he tries to rescue the kidnapped daughter of his dead friend. Details as to the role that Grillo will be playing haven’t been disclosed. The film will also star Marie Dompnier, Peter Franzén, Rona-Lee Shim’on, Magnus Samuelsson, Simon Wan, Kevin Janssens, and Roland Møller. Tad Daggerhart wrote the script.
TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES
It's apparently now official: Paramount+ has placed a 10-episode series order for a continuation of the long-running CBS procedural, Criminal Minds. The original series follows a group of criminal "profilers" who work for the FBI as members of its Behavioral Analysis Unit. The group is led by Senior Agent David Rossi (Joe Mantegna) and includes Agents JJ Jareau (A.J. Cook), Tara Lewis (Aisha Tyler), and Luke Alvez (Adam Rodriguez) as well as Technical Analyst Penelope Garcia (Kirsten Vangsness) and Unit Chief Emily Prentiss (Paget Brewster). Missing from the list are original cast member Matthew Gray Gubler, who indicated he was ready to move on after playing Spencer Reid for 15 years, and Daniel Henney, who stars in The Wheel Of Time. Additionally, the streamer revealed a companion docuseries, The Real Criminal Minds, which will feature a real-life former FBI profiler who examines real cases and criminal behavior, aided by clips viewers will recognize from the fictional series.
Lizzy Barber’s acclaimed psychological thriller novel, Out of Her Depth, has been optioned by Sony Pictures Television for series development. Set in the heat of a Tuscan summer, the novel is described as "Patricia Highsmith meets E. Lockhart ... a simmering summer thriller about the choices you make as a teenager, and what happens when they go horribly wrong."
Season 2 of CBS’s FBI: International will welcome a new character played by Eva-Jane Willis following the departure of series lead, Christine Paul. Willis will portray Megan "Smitty" Garretson, a street-wise Europol agent with an extensive undercover background who is embedded with The Fly Team and liaises with each host country they inhabit. Smitty is taking over for Paul’s character, Katrin Jaeger, who bowed out with the Season 1 finale, "Crestfallen," serving as her final appearance—for now. Deadline reported that the door remains open for Katrin to pop back in as a guest star in the future though there are currently no plans set as of yet.
UK commercial broadcaster ITV has commissioned a drama adaptation of Louise Doughty’s psychological thriller novel, Platform 7. It will premiere on ITV’s soon-to-launch streaming service ITVX months before its linear premiere on the main channel. The drama is a haunting thriller following central character Lisa, who, after witnessing a cataclysmic event at a railway station, finds her own fragmented memory jogged to reveal a connection between her own life and that of the event she has just witnessed.
Production companies ConradFilm and Bavaria Fiction are following their German hit, Dark Woods, with a new high-octane police drama franchise titled Sonderlage. Inspired by true events, Sonderlage (a working title whose literal translation is "special situation") focuses on police work in exceptional situations such as terrorist attacks, hostage taking, and high-scale extortion. The show stars Henny Reents alongside Annette Paulmann, Lasse Myhr, Georg Bütow, Banafshe Hourmazdi, Zoë Valks, Frederik Schmid, and Sven Gerhardt.
Hulu's original comedy crime series, Only Murders in the Building, has been renewed for Season 3, the streamer announced last week. The show hails from co-creators and writers, Steve Martin and John Hoffman, and stars Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez. Season 2 picks up following the shocking death of Arconia Board President Bunny Folger in the Season 1 finale. Charles, Oliver and Mabel race to unmask her killer, however, three (unfortunate) complications ensue — the trio is publicly implicated in Bunny’s homicide, they are now the subjects of a competing podcast, and they have to deal with a bunch of New York neighbors who all think they committed murder.
Peacock has ordered a second installment of its true-crime anthology series, Dr. Death, based on the Wondery podcast. The new season will feature the "Miracle Man" storyline, based on the most recent third season of the podcast. Season 2 will revolve around Paolo Macchiarini, a charming surgeon, renowned for his innovative operations that earn him the nickname "Miracle Man." When investigative journalist, Benita Alexander, approaches him for a story, the line between personal and professional begins to blur, changing her life forever. As she learns how far Paolo will go to protect his secrets, a group of doctors halfway across the world make shocking discoveries of their own that call everything about the "Miracle Man" into question.
Steve Carell and Domhnall Gleeson star as a therapist and the serial killer client holding him hostage in the newly released trailer for FX and Hulu’s 10-episode limited series, The Patient, which is set to premiere August 30. The chilling clip features earlier sessions between lan Strauss (Carell) and Sam Fortner (Gleeson) as the latter describes his quick temper. What seemingly begins as a routine session with a patient eventually devolves into a nightmare, as Fortner reveals himself to be a serial killer who demands help to curb his homicidal urges.
PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO
Gordon Kerr, author of British Traitors: Betrayal & Treachery in the Twentieth Century, stopped by Crime Time FM to chat about the men and women who betrayed their country for money and ideology; The Cambridge spies, Lord Haw Haw, and George Blake; and Kerr's novel, A Partisan Heart.
On the Unlikeable Female Characters podcast, Layne spoke with legendary thriller author, Tess Gerritsen, about the unlikeable female character she just couldn't kill off and the secret to keeping a long-running series feeling fresh.
My Favorite Detective Stories welcomed A. B. Patterson, an award-winning Australian writer who knows first-hand about corruption, power, crime, and sex as a former Detective Sergeant working in pedophilia and vice. He was later a Chief Investigator with the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption. Harry’s World was his award-winning first book in 2015, followed by the sequel, Harry’s Quest, and the upcoming Harry’s Grail.
On the latest episode of Writers Detective Bureau, Detective Adam Richardson talked about a cold-ish case scenario; civilian jobs in law enforcement; and how arrests made outside of your local jurisdiction are handled.
Queer Writers of Crime featured the third in Laury's series of recommendations of favorite Nordic crime novels.
On Read or Dead, Katie and Nusrah discussed mysteries that feature all sorts of games.
Speaking of Mysteries featured Glaswegian auctioneer extraordinaire Rilke, who is back with his merry band of pranksters in The Second Cut, Louise Welsh’s follow up novel to her remarkable The Cutting Room.
THEATRE
Following their international tour of The Sign of Four, Blackeyed Theatre will bring a new world premiere stage adaptation of The Valley of Fear, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's final Sherlock Holmes novel, to theatres across the UK in the fall. In the story, a mysterious, coded message is received warning of imminent danger and draws Holmes and Dr. Watson into a tale of intrigue and murder stretching from 221B Baker Street, to an ancient moated manor house, to the bleak Pennsylvanian Vermissa Valley. Faced with a trail of bewildering clues, Holmes begins to unearth a darker, wider web of corruption, a secret society, and the sinister work of one Professor Moriarty. Adapted by Nick Lane and with original music composed by Tristan Parkes, The Valley of Fear sees Luke Barton and Joseph Derrington reprise their critically-acclaimed roles from Sign of Four as the iconic duo.
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