Suranne to star in one of ITV1's key new dramas
Suranne Jones stars in one of three new dramas to be commissioned by ITV for next year. In Scott and Bailey, former Coronation Street actress Suranne stars alongside Lesley Sharp as two homicide detectives from the Major Incident Team of Greater Manchester Police. The series is scripted by Sally Wainwright whose drama Unforgiven, also starring Suranne, won the RTS Award for Best Drama earlier this year. ITV has also commissioned two legal dramas, Injustice and The Jury. Injustice stars James Purefoy as William Travers, a criminal barrister who is recovering from a traumatic series of events that have shaken his belief in the legal system. Injustice is Anthony Horowitz's next project for ITV1 following the huge success of police drama Collision, starring Douglas Henshall, last year. Meanwhile, The Jury focuses on the everyday people who find themselves at the centre of one of the most controversial criminal re-trials of their time. Written by BAFTA winner and Oscar nominated Peter Morgan, the drama goes into production early next year. Laura Mackie, ITV Director of Drama Commissioning, said: "Peter, Sally and Anthony are three of the finest British screenwriters and the quality of their scripts are attracting top flight acting talent. "We're totally committed to original, authored drama and these commissions are brilliant additions to our slate for 2011."
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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.