Parade’s End star Anne-Marie Duff has been tapped to play the lead role in From Darkness, BBC One’s four-part crime drama from The Paradise scribe Katie Baxendale.
From Darkness tells the story of Clare Church, who, in the mid-90s, left the Greater Manchester Police, where she often found herself ignored in the office and second place in her relationship with her married DI.
After leaving GMP, Clare moved to the remote island of Canna, with her new man, Norrie, and daughter Megan. But now, four bodies from Clare’s past investigations have been unearthed and she finds herself being pulled back in to a world she’d long since left behind and a case that only she can solve.
Anne-Marie Duff, whose played Fiona Gallagher on Channel 4’s Shameless, will star as former GMP officer Clare Church, who feels the dual pull of a vocation that sustained her and a man she once loved, but questions if she can protect herself from the darkness this time. Casting for the remaining primary roles is still underway.
“Katie Baxendale has created a beautifully complex character in her female protagonist”, said Anne-Marie Duff. “As soon as I started to read episode one I felt excited at the prospect of being involved. It’s a world in which all of the characters have real stories to tell”.
From Darkness, which is the first original series commission for Katie Baxendale, is being produced by BBC Drama North, who developed the project from an a original pitch as part of the BBC Writersroom scheme. The series producer is Helen Ziegler, while Hilary Martin and Oliver Kent will executive produce. The Village and Call The Midwife helmer Domic Leclerc is attached to direct the drama, which is set to enter production in Manchester and Scotland later this month.
