Poldark producers and Casualty creator to bring modern day relationship drama Desire to ITV
Jeremy Brock’s series will centre around a divorcee whose life is overwhelmed by a passionate love affair
ITV has commissioned Desire, a new drama serial about a destructive love affair made by Victoria and Poldark producers Mammoth Screen.
The five-part series has been written by Jeremy Brock, the co-creator of Casualty and screenwriter of films including Mrs Brown and Bafta winner The Last King of Scotland, and will centre around a divorcee named Leia who “finds herself falling in love with an intensity she’s never experienced before”.
“It’s the wrong man at the wrong time but Leia can’t give the relationship up,” reads the synopsis of the as-yet-uncast drama. “Desire looks at what happens when a passion is so powerful it starts to jeopardise your job, your home, and even your kids…”
Brock, a TV and film writing veteran, who co-created BBC1 hospital drama Casualty when he was just 26, said of Desire: “For a long time, I’ve wanted to write about what it feels like to be a parent, to try and balance the unconditionality of parental love with the shock of adult passion.
"Our values are bound up with our identity… children, family, work, love, our ideologies. I wanted to write about what happens when all these lights, by which we steer, are suddenly torn away and we are offered the stark choice: adapt or risk losing everything. It’s a huge privilege to be given the opportunity to write this big, passionate, messy slice of contemporary life."
“I am so thrilled to be working with Jeremy,” said ITV head of drama Polly Hill. “Desire is such a beautiful and compelling story, dealing with the intense passion of a new relationship, the tricky and messy business of divorce and the ultimate love for your children. I am proud to be making this with Mammoth Screen for ITV.”
Desire will be filmed in Sheffield this summer and is expected to be broadcast in 2018. Casting will be announced later this year.
