Birger Larsen, the director behind critically acclaimed Danish series The Killing, has now finished Murder, a new drama for BBC Two. 

 

The drama was co-created by Robert Jones and Kath Mattock, the team behind BAFTA-winning Buried for Channel 4, who first worked together on Cops for the BBC.

 

“I can say without exaggeration that it was the best script I have seen since The Killing,” said Larsen. “I was attracted to the fact that it”s written in such a way that the actors talk direct to camera. It feels original and intimate. You”re drawn into their world – you see it through their eyes.”

 

The story focuses on sisters Coleen (Karla Crome) and Erin (Lara Rossi), who have a volatile relationship. All they have is each other. They meet Stefan (Joe Dempsie) who is passing through town, hours later one of them is dead. All we have to go on is what the two survivors tell us. Who did it? And why?

 

Writer Robert Jones, together with producer Kath Mattock, spent months in the public galleries of the Old Bailey researching. Using personal testimony, Murder revisits the missing moments in search of the truth. Intercut with CCTV footage, flashback and forensic evidence, the protagonists speak direct to camera giving their version of events, one after the other. Although Murder never enters the courtroom, it uses the same principle: the protagonists get to tell their story, and the audience judges who and what to believe. 

 

“Robert Jones has found a really fresh way of telling crime stories and in doing so has created a unique format. It is a testament to the strength of his script that such a strong team has been brought together both in front of and behind the camera,” said BBC Executive Producer, Matthew Read.

 

Murder was commissioned by Ben Stephenson, Controller BBC Drama Commissioning and Janice Hadlow, Controller BBC Two. It is a Touchpaper TV production for BBC Scotland.