We’re really excited to share that the BBC has announced Sutherland, a brand-new sci-fi thriller created by James Smythe (All Her Fault) with writers Laura Grace, Tom Mair and Helen Kingston, and directed by Chloë Wicks and Patrick Harkins.
James has built a reputation for smart, and emotionally rich storytelling. Sutherland is set to star will star Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Fuze, Loki, The Girl Before), Stuart Martin (Army of Thieves, In Flight, Rebel Moon) and Iain De Caestecker (Roadkill, The Winter King, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D). This six-part drama, set in the near future, split between the Scottish Highlands and space, blends big ideas with very human stories.
The series follows Mirren, a flight director overseeing the UK’s first crewed mission to the stars, whose world is turned upside down when strange events begin unfolding back on Earth. What starts as a space mission quickly becomes something much more mysterious and much more personal.
James describes it as “a love story, a story of loss, and a story of discovery,” exploring our need to understand both what’s out there in the universe and what’s right in front of us. That balance of scale and emotion is exactly what makes his writing stand out, and it’s exciting to see it brought to screen in such an ambitious way.
We couldn’t be more excited to see this come together. Filming kicks off in Scotland later this year, with Sutherland set to air on BBC iPlayer, BBC One, and BBC Scotland.
