BBC takes Grimsby thriller Shy & Lola to MIPCOM before home launch
The BBC will offer its new thriller Shy & Lola to overseas buyers at MIPCOM next week, before it airs at home, Deadline reported.
The six-part drama stars Hayley Squires as Shy and Bel Powley as Lola, according to BBC Studios. It will launch on BBC One and BBC iPlayer, the BBC's broadcast channel and streaming service, next year, the BBC said. Each of the six episodes runs 60 minutes.
Shy is a cleaner dreaming of a new life in Portugal. Lola is an ex-model turned grifter who arrives in Grimsby with trouble close behind. A murder forces them together. They become reluctant allies, entangled in the town's organised criminal underworld.
The series is described as a darkly comic thriller. It was written by Amanda Coe, the award-winning screenwriter and novelist. It is made by Clerkenwell Films, the production company behind Baby Reindeer, in association with Germany's ZDFneo.
BBC Studios, the BBC's commercial arm that sells programmes abroad, took the idea to Clerkenwell. Shy & Lola is a British remake of the French series Cheyenne & Lola, which starred Charlotte Le Bon and Veerle Baetens. The action has moved to Grimsby, on England's east coast, with filming in Hull and Leeds.
The BBC ordered the show as part of a trio of new dramas announced in February, a group that also included 1536. International sales are now starting early. BBC Studios will present Shy & Lola as one of its lead titles at MIPCOM, the yearly TV market in Cannes where distributors sell shows to channels and streamers around the world.
German broadcaster ZDF has already backed the project. Petra Fried, who runs Clerkenwell, is an executive producer, meaning she leads the show creatively and commercially.
Coe has named Fargo among her inspirations for the series. Powley and Squires have cited the wider work of the Coen brothers for its look and tone. Powley is also set to play Aunt Petunia in HBO's forthcoming Harry Potter series.
For viewers, this means the sales talk comes first and the show comes second. Buyers get their look next week. BBC audiences will meet Shy and Lola next year.
