Sherlock writer Steven Moffat is opening the doors to 10 Downing Street in a drama series for Channel 4.
The UK’s most famous residency will be the subject of Number 10, which comes from Moffat’s ITV Studios-owned production house, Hartswood Films.
The show is, in effect, an Upstairs Downstairs-style drama looking to the activities of many people inside the property, which houses the British Prime Minister and their family during their terms. Politics will be put to aside as Moffat focuses on the fictional personalities that make up the home.
Per the synopsis: “10 Downing Street. There’s a Prime Minister in the attic, a coffee bar in the basement, and a wallpapered labyrinth of romance, crisis and heartbreak in-between. Set in the only terrace house in history with mice and a nuclear deterrent, it’s the only knock-through in the world where a hangover can start a war.
“The government will be fictional, but the problems will be real. We’ll never know which party is in power, because once the whole world hits the fan it barely matters. This is a show about the building and everyone inside. Not just the Prime Minister upstairs, but the conspiracy theorist who runs the cafe three floors below, the man who repairs the lift that never works, the madly ambitious ‘advisors’ fighting for office space in cupboards. Oh, and of course, the cat.”
Moffat, whose credits include Doctor Who and Coupling, will exec produce alongside his wife and Hartswood co-chief, Sue Vertue, with Lawrence Till (The Devil’s Hour, The Young Offenders) as the producer. The director is Ben Palmer (Douglas is Cancelled, The Inbetweeners). Gwawr Lloyd, Acting Head of Channel 4 Drama, commissioned Number 10.
Hartswood will produce in association with ITV Studios, which has international distribution rights. Casting and launch details will follow “in due course.”
Vertue said Number 10 was a “passion project for Steven,” noting: “He says there are three famous doors in the world: he’s done 221B Baker Street and the TARDIS – now he’s going to do the real one.”
Channel 4’s Lloyd said: “We’re thrilled to be bringing Number 10 to Channel 4, a bold, brilliant and witty new drama from the exceptional mind of Steven Moffat and the powerhouse team at Hartswood Films. Number 10 will offer a rare glimpse behind the doors of the world’s most iconic political residences which will take viewers from the high-stakes decisions of leadership to the lives of the staff who keep the house running. An insightful and entertaining twist on a state of the nation drama.”
The order comes on the first morning of the Edinburgh TV Festival.
