BBC One announces exciting new commission for Scotland, Case Histories
Case Histories is the latest BBC One drama that will be filmed and set in Scotland, announced today by Jay Hunt, Controller, BBC One, and Ben Stephenson, Controller, Drama Commissioning. It represents a major part of next year’s drama story on BBC One and demonstrate an ongoing commitment to reflect the diversity of audiences all over the UK.
Case Histories is a six-part series adapted from Kate Atkinson‘s compelling mysteries. At the heart of these stories is private investigator Jackson Brodie, who will be played by Jason Isaacs(Harry Potter, The Patriot). A complex and compulsive detective surrounded by death, intrigue and misfortune, his own life haunted by a family tragedy, he attempts to unravel disparate case histories. The series will be filmed and set in modern Edinburgh, and is produced byRuby Films for BBC One.
Case Histories
Case Histories continues a winning streak for Kate Atkinson which began when her impressive novel Behind the Scenes at the Museum won the Whitbread First Novel Award. Since that book, Atkinson has gleaned a keen following of readers who are prepared to follow in the surprising directions the unpredictable author takes us on. And Atkinson–so far–hasn’t let us down.
The perfectly judged prose that distinguished Human Croquet is fully in evidence in Case Histories, and a new frisson here comes from the genre-stretching that Atkinson is indulging in. In some ways, this book could almost be seen as a new take on the crime novel (not the first genre one would expect the author to tackle), but the crime elements here Atkinson uses are peripheral. The protagonist here is a former police inspector who now makes a living as a private investigator. Jackson Brodie is making ends meet in a sweaty Cambridge summer and trying to deal with his own failed marriage. But if his life is adrift, perhaps Brodie can justify his existence via his belief that he can do some good for the people he encounters in his job. But he is to find that he will be irrevocably changed by those he is trying to help.
As a vividly created cast of characters surround the beleaguered Brodie, all the novelistic skills that shone in Atkinson’s earlier books are fully in play. Those deluded into thinking they’ve picked up something resembling a standard private eye novel will find something much more rich and strange; Atkinson goes from strength to strength.