Mackenzie Crook, Eccleston cast in BBC1's Accused
Christopher Eccleston is being reunited with Cracker creator Jimmy McGovern for a new BBC One crime drama. McGovern's new six-part series Accused also features Pirates Of The Caribbean and The Office actor Mackenzie Crook. Each separate hour-long story tells how a character accused of a crime came to be in the dock. Former Doctor Who star Eccleston plays a plumber and lapsed Catholic who fails to be a faithful husband, while Crook's episode sees him portray a soldier described as 'a man you need on your side'. Chris - who played the Time Lord before David Tennant - recently said that he wanted to take on more comedy roles to surprise everyone and himself. He and McGovern previously worked together on powerful dramas Cracker and Hillsborough, while the new series also reunites the creative team behind BBC One hit The Street. McGovern said: "It's great to work with Chris again and I've often tried in the past to get Mackenzie into something of mine. "And, needless to say it's wonderful to reunite the team that made The Street." The further four episodes of Accused will be filmed in and around Manchester until the end of August and other cast members are yet to be announced.
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Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix.
An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.