It looks like BBC Two is going all “The Cloverfield Paradox” on us, with hopefully better results. Despite being toplined by Oscar nominee Carey Mulligan, the U.K. network only announced the launch of “Collateral” today — the same day the first episode goes to air. Whatever works, I guess, but a little lead time would be nice. Nonetheless, a chance to watch Mulligan dive into a complex, peak TV role is very promising and the good news is that for those of us stateside, the series will be coming to Netflix.
Written by David Hare (“The Hours,” “The Reader“) and directed by S.J. Clarkson (“Love, Nina,” “Jessica Jones“), the story follows a U.K. detective who dives in to solve a mystery, only to discover something bigger than she expected. Here’s the official synopsis:
When a pizza delivery driver is shot dead in south London, a tenacious detective goes after the people traffickers behind his murder and unravels a conspiracy that goes to the top.
As per usual, it was the quality of the writing that attracted Mulligan to the role, and it’s refrain we’ve heard time and again from actors and actresses when speaking about the benefits of working in television these days.
“I think for most of the female actresses I know it’s just about going where the better writing is. Films have tended to provide a lot for men in terms of great leading roles and not so much for women,” she told The Independent. “You can get a TV show like ‘Big Little Lies,’ which has five or six extraordinary roles for women, while there would maybe be half a good role for a woman in a film. I want to play the most interesting, complicated real person, and interesting, complicated real people in films are really, really rare.”
“It’s about following great writing and playing real people and not playing the girlfriend or the wife. I’ve done that a lot in the past, and it’s not fun,” Mulligan added.
No word yet on the Netflix launch, but one to keep an eye out for to add to your queue.