New series: Kidnap and Ransom
6th September 2011
TREVOR EVE (Waking the Dead, Bouquet of Barbed Wire) returns as international hostage negotiator, Dominic King in the second series of the thrilling Kidnap and Ransom, produced by Trevor’s production company, Projector Pictures in partnership with Talkback Thames for ITV1.
HELEN BAXENDALE (Dirk Gently, Cold Feet) reprises her role as Angela Beddoes, King’s business partner, alongside AMARA KARAN (Doctor Who, The Darjeeling Limited) as Carrie Heath and NATASHA LITTLE (Case Histories, Mistresses) as Dominic’s wife Sophie King.
Guest starring in the new series is acclaimed star of stage and screen, SHARON SMALL (Downton Abbey, Mistresses), MADHUR MITTAL (Slumdog Millionaire, Treasure Island), SEAN GILDER (The Shadow Line, Shameless), CHRIS FAIRBANK (Pirates of the Caribbean, Five Daughters), OWEN TEALE (Silk, Game of Thrones) and KIMBERLEY NIXON (Easy Virtue, Cranford).
The new series of Kidnap and Ransom is written by Michael Crompton (Silent Witness) and directed by David Drury (The Take, Ashes to Ashes). Although set in Kashmir, India, the 3 x 60 minute episodes will be filmed on location in Cape Town, South Africa from mid-September.
Dominic King (Eve) is in Srinagar, Kashmir negotiating the release of the Mehtas, a British Asian family kidnapped while on holiday visiting their son Mahavir. As the handover is completed, the police arrive and a shoot-out ensues. Dominic gets most of the family to safety but the kidnappers get away with Mahavir. In their panic they board a tourist bus, taking all those on board hostage.
When the tourist bus crashes in a packed market square, Dominic begins the challenge of negotiating for the safety of a multi-national group of people, battling against the intervention of the Indian police and trying to get to the source of the kidnappers’ motives.
Kidnap and Ransom was created by acclaimed scriptwriter Patrick Harbinson (24, Law & Order, ER). This series is produced by Trevor Hopkins (Strikeback, The Prisoner) and the executive producers are Trevor Eve and Rachel Gesua.
“I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of producing the first series of Kidnap and Ransom for ITV and bringing Dominic King to life. On behalf of Projector Pictures we’re delighted we’ve been given a second series” said Trevor Eve.
Kidnap and Ransom has been recommissioned by ITV1’s Director of Drama Commissioning Laura Mackie and Controller of Drama Commissioning, Sally Haynes and is due for transmission in 2012.
Sally commented: “We were really pleased with how the audience responded to Kidnap and Ransom. Trevor is a fantastic screen actor and really made the character of Dominic King his own. The second series with its plot twists and turns promises to be as unpredictable and absorbing as the first.”
Kidnap and Ransom’s first series was a huge ratings success for ITV generating consolidated ratings of 6.7 million and a 24% audience share for episode one and an average of 6.0m and a 22% share for each of the three episodes.
Notes to editors:
In 2007, talkbackTHAMES and the Fremantlemedia Group, partnered with Trevor Eve and his drama company Projector Pictures. Kidnap and Ransom was the debut commission under this partnership.
FremantleMedia is one of the largest international creators and producers of entertainment brands in the world with leading prime time drama, serial drama, entertainment and factual entertainment programming. FremantleMedia Enterprises, the company’s content exploitation arm, offers a comprehensive Licensing, Distribution and Home Entertainment world wide brand extension programme. FremantleMedia is a subsidiary of RTL Group, Europe's largest television and radio broadcast company, which is 90% owned by Bertelsmann AG, an integrated media and entertainment company that commands leading positions in the world's media markets. www.fremantlemedia.com
For Press related enquiries, please contact kate.richards@itv.com