Polly Hill and Nana Hughes announce thriller starring Blue Lights’ Martin McCann

Clapperboard Studios has secured its first ITV drama with a thriller that has already begun production in Ireland, Broadcast can reveal.

The six-part She Lies in Wait (w/t) was commissioned by drama chief Polly Hill and head of comedy Nana Hughes and is adapted from Gytha Lodge’s Jonah Sheens novels by Silent Witness screenwriter Ed Whitmore.

Blue Lights star Martin McCann will play the ‘likeable and dedicated’ DI Jonah Sheens, investigating the cold case of a teenager who vanished while on a camping trip with friends in the New Forest more than two decades ago.

The action jumps between the present day and the events surrounding the disappearance and its immediate aftermath, exploring friendship, lust, betrayal, rivalry and ultimately murder.

She Lies in Wait is produced in association with Studio TF1, will be directed by Marc Evans (The Steeltown Murders) and produced by Myf Hopkins (Little Disasters, The Castaways). Clapperboard managing director Mike Benson and senior executive producer Rachel Gesua serve as co-executive producers.

Clapperboard, launched in 2020 as a sister company of unscripted outfit Chalkboard, has developed a reputation for producing low-cost drama, and has now produced 161 hours of television across 33 scripted series, mostly for 5, including returning anthology series The Teacher and newly launched cosy crime title Benidorm Is Murder.

Benson said: “We’re delighted to be working with a brilliant team on the project, led by such smart and respected creatives in Ed, Marc and Myf.

“The scripts are so rich with intrigue and nostalgia, and we were really thrilled the supremely talented Martin McCann agreed to lead the series as the complicated – and potentially compromised – Jonah Sheens.

“It’s hugely exciting to be working for the first time with the team at ITV and we can’t wait to bring the adaption of Gytha’s wonderful novel to our screens.”

The cast will also include Ella Dacres (Last Resort, Paddington in Peru) and Stephen Tompkinson (The Fortune, Ellis) as Sheens’ colleagues, with Jemima Rooper (Geek Girl, The Inheritance), Al Weaver (Grantchester, Press), Ben Bailey Smith (Andor, Black Mirror), Bradley James (Underworld: Blood Wars, Merlin), Jade Harrison (Beyond Paradise, Insomnia) and Olivia Mace (Eliminators, Dominion) as the adult survivors of the camping trip.

Hughes said the novel is “a perfect fit for television”, adding: “We’re excited to be working with such a talented creative team in Ed Whitmore, Marc Evans and Clapperboard to adapt this exceptional book for the screen and introduce the brilliant characters to a whole new audience.”

Whitmore said he had been “hooked” since he had heard the premise of the book.

“But when I read the novel itself, I was gripped, entranced and moved,” he said, nodding to the story’s plot twists, New Forest setting, and gallery of memorable characters.

“I was utterly certain this was a story I wanted to bring to the screen and in collaborating with Clapperboard Studios and director Marc Evans, I’m lucky enough to be part of a truly stellar creative team.”

Clapperboard is part of iZen and the wider Studio TF1 Group, and She Lies in Wait will be internationally distributed by Studio TF1.