Kris Mrksa
Australian screenwriter Kris Mrksa (Glitch, Janet King, The Slap, Underbelly, The Secret Life of Us) will write a six-part series for BBC Drama.
Requiem will be made by New Pictures (coming off the back of a great success with The Missing, starring Australia's Frances O'Connor) and will consist of six one-hour episodes. The show will be executive produced by Willow Grylls, Elaine Pyke and Charlie Pattinson for New Pictures and Polly Hill for BBC One.
A thriller which flirts with the supernatural, Requiem is the story of a young woman who discovers, in the wake of her mother's death, that everything she thought she knew about herself was a lie.
So: expect a more adult, ambiguous, and female version of Harry Potter.
"Requiem is the show I've always wanted to make", Mrksa said. "To be making it with the team at New Pictures, and for the BBC, a network that I so greatly admire, really is a dream come true."
Executive Producers for New Pictures, Willow Grylls and Charlie Pattinson, said: “We are delighted to be given the opportunity to work with the brilliant writer Kris Mrksa on this bold and distinctive series for BBC One."
Mrksa is in esteemed company. Controller of BBC Drama commissioning, Polly Hill, said "I want the BBC to be the best creative home for writers and it's exciting to bring audiences new shows from Mike Bartlett, Jimmy McGovern (Cracker), Jo Ahearne and Hugo Blick (The Honourable Woman); plus have Kenneth Lonnergan (You Can Count on Me), Connor McPherson and Kris Mrksa all writing their first dramas for us".
Requiem is expected to air in late 2016.