EXCLUSIVE: Dougray Scott is leading the BBC’s adaptation of J.J. Arcanjo’s Crookhaven, while an Adolescence breakout has been cast as one of the students.
Scott, the star of Crime and Vigil, will play Caspian Lockett, the headmaster and leader of the secretive Crookhaven, a school for crooks where students learn how to hone their skills in order to do good. Based on the hit book series, the students, or Crooklings, are trained to perfect their unusual skills to bring balance, justice and order to the outside world.
Scott is joined by Claire Forlani (Industry), who plays his wife Carmen, along with Keith Allen (Shallow Grave) and Naomi Wirthner (Slow Horses).
The ensemble selected to play Crookhaven’s gifted Crooklings include Amari Bacchus, who played an integral role as DI Bascombe’s son Adam Bascombe in the second ep of Adolescence, Netflix’s breakout hit of the year. He is joined by Lucas Leach (FBI International), Carmel Laniado (The Witcher), Leila Khan (Heartstopper), Sani Thabo (Casualty), Tipper Seifert-Cleveland (Cruella), Aerona Shi (Goldie’s Oldies), Charlie Mann (Virdee) and Rowan McIntosh (The Chelsea Detective). The Crooklings are completed by Ti Barbosa (The Buccaneers) and newcomer Anna-Sophia Eden. Also starring are Genesis Lynea (Silent Witness), Alex Mugnaioni (Mr Sloane), Miltos Yerolemou (Game of Thrones) and Imran Yusuf (Wanderlust).
Created for TV by Justin Young, Crookhaven is the latest big adaptation from the BBC kids team following the likes of The Famous Five and Dodger.
Patricia Hidalgo, Director BBC Children’s and Education, said: “Crookhaven, an adaptation from the already successful books will make a gripping Kids & Family TV Drama series, with intriguing characters, ingenious plot twists and dark secrets. We know it will resonate strongly at home and abroad, and we could not be more excited to bring such high end production together with a tremendous wealth of acting talent to our line up.”
Crookhaven is made by BBC Studios Kids & Family Productions for the BBC with support from Northern Ireland Screen and led by Tali Walters as creative lead, Mark Freeland (Dodger, The Wrong Mans, The Thick of It, Miranda) as EP Jon East (Killing Eve, Downton Abbey, Lost in Space, The Last Kingdom) as director and Leon McGeown-Fee (Dalgliesh, London Kills, Hope Street) as producer. The series was commissioned by Sarah Muller, Senior Head of BBC Children’s Commissioning 7+ and the Commissioning Editor for the BBC is Amy Buscombe. International distribution is being handled by BBC Studios.
