Mark Strepan (The Mill) and Ben Tavassoli (No Offence) have been set as the leads in New Blood, BBC One’s seven episode contemporary cop drama from Foyle’s War creator Anthony Horowitz which “sets out to show a unique side of modern London, through the eyes of two outsiders”, TVWise has learned.
New Blood tells the story of two young police investigators, Stefan and Rash, who work for two different law enforcement divisions and are suddenly brought together by two seemingly unrelated cases. They soon find themselves coming up against the uber rich and powerful who hide behind legitimate facades and are guarded by lawyers. The drama series is produced by Eleventh Hour Films, with Horowitz and Jill Green serving as executive producers.
“When I created a hero who was Polish/British and another who was Iranian/British, I never expected that we’d actually find the real thing but with Mark and Ben we’ve done exactly that”, said series creator and executive producer Anthony Horowitz. “They really are the ‘new blood’ that the title promises and I’m confident that they’re going to make a wonderfully surprising and entertaining team.”
Mark Strepan will play Stefan, a junior investigator with the Serious Fraud Office; while Ben Tavassoli has been cast as Rash, a junior investigator with the Metropolitan Police Service. Both British but not part of the establishment, Stefan and Rash’s friendship is cemented across the series they come to understand that by quietly pooling resources and combining their different skills they make a formidable crime solving force. And at the same time they might be able to help each other up the promotional ladder – if they don’t get themselves fired along the way.
“When I was seventeen I remember serving ‘Alex Rider’ Alex Pettyfer at a charity dinner. I was working and saving money for drama school, standing in awe of the actor who got to be a part of Anthony Horowitz’s Stormbreaker”, said Strepan. “I can’t wait to get started. You read these scripts and you can’t help but want to do a little dance. There’s a lot of action, a lot of training to be done and a lot of fun ahead. I feel incredibly lucky to be a part of it.”
“I remember this green book knocking about at school when I was in year 7. I didn’t read anything besides forged sick notes back then, but I decided to jump on the bandwagon and pick up a copy of Stormbreaker”, added Tavssoli. “The only problem was I couldn’t put it back down and now 15 years later I’ve been cast in the author’s new BBC drama. Madness. It’s such a privilege.”
