EXCLUSIVE: Apple is gearing up to go into production on two of its first UK-commissioned dramas amid the coronavirus pandemic, as Uma Thurman starrer Suspicion and Gary Oldman-fronted Slow Horses prepare to shoot.
Deadline understands that Suspicion could be the first of the two shows to get cameras rolling under strict safety protocols after it was forced to shut down in March as Covid-19 ripped through British shoots.
The Keshet Productions UK adaptation of Israeli drama False Flag has entered pre-production and the shoot is planned for late October, although dates are not set in stone. Producers were nearing the end of the first block of filming before the show was halted.
Suspicion features Thurman as a prominent American businesswoman whose 21-year-old son is kidnapped from an upmarket hotel in central New York. Four British citizens staying at the hotel quickly become the prime suspects.
Rob Williams is the showrunner, while the Apple TV+ series is directed by Chris Long and produced by Darin McLeod. Williams and Long also serve as executive producers, along with Howard Burch, Avi Nir, Anna Winger and Liat Benasuly.
Meanwhile, Slow Horses went into pre-production last week ahead of the shoot commencing on November 30. See-Saw Films’ adaptation of Mick Herron’s spy novels was meant to shoot earlier this year but was delayed by the pandemic.
Oscar-winner Oldman stars as Jackson Lamb, a brilliant but irascible leader of a group of spies, who end up in MI5’s Slough House, having been exiled from the mainstream for their mistakes.
Slow Horses is written by Will Smith. Smith executive produces with Graham Yost, Jamie Laurenson, Hakan Kousetta, Iain Canning, Emile Sherman, Gail Mutrux and Douglas Urbanski. James Hawes is the director.
Both shows are overseen by London-based Jay Hunt, Apple’s creative director for Europe worldwide video, alongside heads of worldwide video, Zack Van Amburg and Jamie Erlicht.
Although they are the first UK-commissioned dramas to get back underway, Apple has already restarted filming on another project, Invasion, in Manchester, England, as previously reported by Deadline.