Amazon renews Bosch for a final seventh series

One of the more enjoyable crime series of recent years has been Amazon’s adaptation of Michael Connelly’s best-selling Harry Bosch series.

And now there’s bittersweet news from the streaming service: it has renewed the show for a seventh series, but that seventh series will be the last.

The Hollywood Reporter says: “Bosch will sign off presumably in 2021 as Amazon’s longest-running scripted original. An episode count for the final season has not been determined. Heading into the sixth season, Bosch has already produced 50 episodes — more than any other Amazon scripted original. No scripted series at the streamer has reached the seven-season mark, either.”

Connelly himself tweeted: “Drawing from the novels The Concrete Blonde and The Burning Room, the seventh and final season of  @BoschAmazon will have Harry Bosch and Jerry Edgar pursuing two separate but perilous murder investigations that will take them to the highest levels of white-collar crime and the deadly depths of the street-level drug trade. The sixth season of Bosch will premiere later this year on Amazon Prime Video. Look for the seventh season in 2021.”

He also added: “I’m proud of what we have accomplished with Bosch and look forward to completing the story in season 7. It’s bittersweet but all good things come to an end and I am happy that we will be able to go out the way we want to.

“This started seven years ago with showrunner Eric Overmyer and me writing the pilot. We plan to write the last episode together as well. We’ll leave behind the longest-running show so far on Amazon and it will be there to be discovered by new viewers for as long as people are streaming. That is amazing to me.

“The other thing is that we would not have come all this way without Titus Welliver. There could not have been a better actor to play this role or a better team player to build this show around.”

READ MORE: FOR ALL OUR NEWS AND REVIEWS OF BOSCH

 

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Godfather Of Harlem renewed for a second series

It’s a source of some frustration that US series Godfather Of Harlem has not been picked up by a UK broadcaster yet, despite the series finishing in American two months ago.

News reaches us that the series has already been recommissioned for a second series.

Set in the 1960s, Godfather Of Harlem tells the true story of infamous crime boss Bumpy Johnson (Forest Whitaker), who returned home after ten years in prison to find the neighbourhood he once ruled in shambles. With the streets controlled by the Italian mob, Bumpy took on the Genovese crime family to regain control.

Now, The Hollywood Reporter is, well, reporting that it has been renewed.

“Godfather of Harlemseason one was a remarkable success, tripling previous viewership numbers for the network and earning acclaim from both critics and viewers alike,” said Epix president Michael Wright. “We couldn’t wait to reunite with Chris, Paul, Forest and the team at ABC Signature to continue telling this compelling and extremely relevant story.”

Sky Atlantic orders adaptation of CJ Skuse’s Sweetpea

Sky Atlantic has ordered a new eight-part adaptation of CJ Skuse’s celebrated Sweetpea novel.

It tells the story of Rhiannon, your average girl next door, who is living quietly with her boyfriend and little dog. By day her job as an office manager is demeaning and unsatisfying. By evening she dutifully listens to her friends’ plans for marriage and babies. Rhiannon never complains, smiling through it all with reserves of serenity and a sparkling wit. She has become skilled at keeping it together.

Being normal. But behind this mask is a ferocious power lying dormant, and a long-buried secret that Rhiannon wishes she could forget. When a chance encounter with a stranger leads to a shocking act of violence, Rhiannon’s mask slips completely and she is forced to confront the darker side she has long kept hidden. The girl everyone overlooks might just be able to get away with murder.

More news as we get it.

BBC One orders new Harry and Jack Williams Australian-set thrille The Tourist

The Missing and Baptiste creators Harry and Jack Williams are never short of an idea or three, and BBC One has picked up their next one.

The six-episode The Tourist follows a British tourist who, in the glowing red heart of the Australian outback, is pursued by a vast tank truck trying to drive him off the road. An epic cat and mouse chase unfolds and the man later wakes in hospital, hurt, but somehow alive. Except he has no idea who he is. With merciless figures from his past pursuing him, The Man’s search for answers propels him through the vast and unforgiving outback.

The BBC calls the series ‘a character-driven mystery packed thriller, full of shocking, surprising, funny and brutal turns’. Set in a world populated by quirky, enigmatic characters, off-beat black comedy punctuates high-stakes action. The series twists and turns through the dusty outback of Australia, to the frantic noise and lights of Singapore, and to the calm, luxury white-sand beaches of Bali.

At its heart, however, is a story of self-discovery with a ticking timebomb underneath: As The Man starts to uncover the mystery of who he was, he’s also forced to ask who he is now – and fast. Will he unlock the secrets of his identify before those who are trying to kill him catch up with him?

Existential questions sit alongside breathless storytelling, in a very real and very human story that everyone can relate to, played out across the almost mythic, landscape of the outback, a modern-day Wild West.

Harry and Jack Williams, Writers and Managing Directors of Two Brothers Pictures, say: “The Tourist is a departure from anything we’ve written before. It isn’t an easy show to categorise – so we won’t. We are, however, hugely excited to have Chris Sweeney on board as director, and to be making this for the BBC. We’re thankful for their support of this ambitious project.”

More news as we get it.

ITV to strip new thriller Flesh And Blood across a week

ITV is set to strip its new four-part thriller Flesh And Blood Monday to Thursday.

Imelda Staunton, Francesca Annis, Russell Tovey and Stephen Rea will star in the ‘darkly witty and gripping’ drama created and written by Sarah Williams, which explores family dynamics and modern relationships as they spiral towards a tragedy and possible crime.

New four-part drama Flesh and Blood follows the lives of a seemingly normal family as they spiral out of control.
Starring @RussellTovey, starting this February on @ITV and @ITVHub. pic.twitter.com/8GdFFmq4ZM

— ITV (@ITV) February 8, 2020

Joining the ensemble cast are Claudie Blakley, Lydia Leonard, Sharon Small, Lara Rossi, Keir Charles, Vincent Regan, Grace Hogg-Robinson and David Bamber.

The series is a modern story of three adult siblings – Helen (Claudie Blakley), Jake (Russell Tovey) and Natalie (Lydia Leonard) – who are thrown into disarray when their recently widowed mother Vivien (Francesca Annis) declares she’s in love with a new man, Mark (Stephen Rea).

Flesh And Blood: Monday 24th – Thursday 27th February, 9pm, ITV

Sky Atlantic drops first trailer for series two of Save Me

The yellow puffer jacket is on its way back.

Sky Atlantic’s Save Me – which reached our top five in 2017’s best crime dramas – is set to return in a short while, complete with Lennie James in the title role as anti-hero, Nelly.

And now we have a trailer.

At the end of series one, Nelly was left devastated when his desperate search for his daughter Jody proved to be unsuccessful.  To find Jody he had been dragged into a dark underworld, took risks dangerous to himself and those closest to him, and challenged him to re-evaluate many of the decisions he has made about his life. All to find Jody.

Series two joins Nelly 17 months later.  Is he still looking for his daughter?  What hope is there of finding her? And if new evidence were to emerge what would it force Nelly to do next?

This second series, entitled Save Me Too, will see Lesley Manville join the cast as Jennifer Charles, the wife of Gideon (Adrian Edmondson). Jennifer is forced to make an almost impossible choice that will place her in direct conflict with Nelly, following the return of the vulnerable girl, Grace (Olive Gray), who Nelly rescued while searching for Jody.

Suranne Jones returns as Jody’s mum Claire who faces the dire possibilities of her daughter’s fate and Stephen Graham is back as Melon, who is attempting to start a new life with Bernie (Alice Feetham). Also returning are; Thomas Coombes (Goz), Kerry Godliman (Teens), Nadine Marshall (D.I O’Halloran), Susan Lynch (Stace) and Jason Flemyng (Tam).

Look out for it very soon.

READ MORE: OUR SERIES ONE REVIEWS OF SAVE ME