A BBC Two thriller filmed in Manchester and Liverpool is set to air this spring.
The City & The City, an adaptation of China Miéville’s mind-bending novel, will star David Morrissey as Inspector Tyador Borlú.
Tony Grisoni (The Young Pope, Southcliffe, The Red Riding Trilogy) has adapted the four-part thriller in a Mammoth Screen production directed by Tom Shankland (Les Misérables, House of Cards, The Missing).
The cast also includes Lara Pulver (Sherlock) as Borlú’s wife Katrynia, Mandeep Dhillon (Some Girls) as Constable Corwi of the Besźel Policzai and Maria Schrader (Deutschland 83) as Senior Detective Dhatt.
China Miéville, three-time winner of the prestigious Arthur C. Clarke Award, published The City & The City in 2009 to dazzling acclaim, drawing comparisons with Kafka, Orwell and Philip K Dick.
He said: “It’s been extraordinary and moving to see this huge process, whereby a book written alone is collectively transformed into something familiar yet quite new. And it is extraordinary and moving to see the final result.”
Liverpool Town Hall has been among the locations for the thriller, whose producer is Betsan Morris-Evans (NW, Endeavour), while Robyn Slovo (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) executive produces alongside Tony Grisoni, Preethi Mavahalli and Damien Timmer from Mammoth Screen and Lucy Richer for the BBC.
