THE BIG SCREEN/MOVIES
Incline Studios unveiled key members of the ensemble cast for its upcoming newsroom thriller, Red Ink. Unfolding in real time, using uninterrupted one-shot takes to mirror the urgency of a breaking story, the film is set over the course of a single morning in November 1949, inside the bustling New York headquarters of the respected Verity Press. Toby Leonard Moore (John Wick) plays Bob Hoover, Verity’s editor-in-chief and a celebrated war photographer whose Pulitzer-winning photograph helped sway public opinion at the end of World War II. His calm authority, wit, and quiet moral certainty is challenged by escalating reports of a mysterious affliction hitting the inhabitants of New York and beyond. As the clock races toward the deadline, he and his team scramble to shape the narrative before rival papers and government officials do. Pressure mounts from the publisher, Walter Nash (D.B. Sweeney), and Senator Conrad (Mike Doyle), a political operative attempting to steer the narrative toward fear, control, and propaganda. Other cast members include Siobhan Fallon Hogan (Men in Black), Tommie Earl Jenkins (Wednesday), Eugene Cordero (Loki), Rose Reid (Finding You), Kyle Selig (Welcome to Flatch), Oona Laurence (The Beguiled), Josh Plasse (iCarly), Michael Barra (The Amazing Spider-Man), Max von Essen (Dexter: Resurrection), and Melissa Putterman-Hoffman.
TELEVISION/STREAMING
Twenty one years after Fox cast David Boreanaz and Emily Deschanel as the leads of a crime drama procedural pilot, Bones, NBC has tapped the duo to each headline a crime drama procedural pilot for the network. Last week, it was announced that Boreanaz will play the lead in NBC’s The Rockford Files reboot, and now it appears that Deschanel will star in an untitled one-hour crime drama written by The Brave creator Dean Georgaris and longtime Davis Entertainment President John Fox. The series is inspired by the work of expert profiler and author Dr. Ann Burgess, subject of the 2024 Hulu docuseries Mastermind: To Think Like a Killer. It centers on Professor Georgia Ryan (Deschanel), a trailblazing psychologist who challenges the field of criminology by shifting the investigative focus to the victim rather than just the perpetrator in order to uncover the crucial clues that more traditional methods leave behind.
Taylor Schilling has been tapped as the lead of NBC‘s crime drama procedural pilot, What The Dead Know, from Wolf Entertainment and Universal Television. Written by Beth Rinehart (FBI: Most Wanted), the project is based on former New York City medical examiner Barbara Butcher’s memoir, What the Dead Know, and centers on highly intelligent, hyper-vigilant death Investigator Ava Ledger (Schilling) who is really good with dead bodies. It’s the living that give her trouble. The series follows Ava as she teams with the NYPD to solve their toughest cases.
Damon Wayans Jr. (Let’s Be Cops, New Girl) has been set as the lead of the NBC and Universal Television drama pilot, Puzzled, based on the Danielle Trussoni novel, The Puzzle Master, from Joey Falco (Charmed). In Puzzled, after barely escaping a tragic fire, once promising college athlete Mike Brink (Wayans Jr.) is transformed by a traumatic brain injury that gives him the unique ability to see the world in an unexpected way and helps him solve crimes with local police. Mike makes his living by betting on sports and is uniquely equipped to do this because he developed Acquired Savant Syndrome as a result of the injury, a rare condition that gives him exceptional skills in puzzle-solving, higher math functions, and pattern recognition.
Beta Film has snapped up international rights for Northern Traces, one of the most-watched shows of the last five years on French-language streamer illico+ in Canada. Set in a snowbound rural town, Northern Traces centers on seasoned Montreal investigator Sergeant Guillaume Pelletier, played by Danny Gilmore. His quiet getaway ends when a friend’s ex-wife is found murdered. Guillaume partners with meticulous local officer Évelyne, and as they investigate and uncover shocking secrets as they face a race against time. The cast also includes Robert Naylor, Catherine Bérubé, and Léa Roy
The BBC has set the cast for its Killing Eve prequel, Honey. Ann Skelly (House of Guinness) takes on the lead role of Martha Schmitt, a deep cover agent for MI6. Surrounded by enemies and constantly under threat of her cover being blown, she tries her hardest to avoid detection by Friedrich Bauman (Jannis Niewöhner), the new Stasi Head of Counterespionage against British Targets. Also starring are Nate Mann (Masters of the Air, Licorice Pizza) as Kurt Fischer, and Rory Kinnear (The Diplomat, The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power) as Graham Anderson. The Martha Schmitt character is a younger version of Carolyn Martens, who was played by BAFTA-winning Fiona Shaw in Killing Eve. In the original series, young Carolyn was played in one episode by Black Mirror actor Imogen Daines, but the BBC has opted for up-and-comer Skelly to take on that role in Honey.
The BBC also announced the award-winning Gaelic drama series An t-Eilean (The Island) will return following a successful debut series last year. An t-Eilean was the UK’s first high-end Gaelic drama series and the biggest, most high-profile drama in BBC ALBA’s history. Created by Nicholas Osborne and co-written with Mairead Hamilton, the new series will feature a gripping new mystery and will see Sorcha Groundsell (The Innocents, His Dark Materials) return in the lead role of Detective Sergeant Kat Crichton. The new series opens with Kat frustrated both at work and home, caring for her ill father and dealing with petty local crime. However, when the body of a young woman is washed up, Kat is thrust into the hunt for a killer stalking the islands. When her former nemesis, Ruaraidh MacLean (Sam James Smith), now running the local youth group, shares his suspicion there are other missing young islanders, he finds himself drawn back in to Kat’s world as the case tightens around those closest to home.
Mistletoe Murders will be back for a third season, after Hallmark Media announced it has renewed the mystery series starring Sarah Drew (Grey’s Anatomy) and Peter Mooney (Rookie Blue). Season 3 is set to begin production later this year and will premiere during Hallmark’s annual Countdown to Christmas programming event. Mistletoe Murders follows Emily Lane (Drew), the outwardly friendly, and optimistic shop owner of a charming, year-round Christmas-themed store, who has been harboring a big secret. Residing in the quaint tourist town of Fletcher’s Grove, Emily finds herself compelled to investigate not-so-quaint local murders. As Emily works with Detective Sam Wilner (Mooney), a smart local cop, he discovers that the bigger mystery is Emily herself. Season 3 picks up following the Season 2 finale cliffhanger, which found Emily and Sam finally sharing a romantic moment and agreeing to be honest about their pasts. The drama is adapted from the Audible Original series Mistletoe Murders starring Cobie Smulders, Raymond Ablack, Anna Cathcart, and a full ensemble cast.
The BBC has axed acclaimed thriller Virdee after one series, deeming ratings not sufficient for a renewal. The six-part thriller, adapted from A A Dhand's best-selling crime novel series, followed DCI Harry Virdee (Staz Nair) hunting down a killer targeting a West Yorkshire city's Asian community. It also saw the detective's Sikh family feel outraged that Harry decided to marry Saima (Aysha Kala), who is Muslim. Virdee also starred Tobias Jowett (young Harry Virdee), Vikash Bhai (Riaz Hyatt), Danyal Ismail (DS Amin), Elizabeth Berrington (DS Conway), Sudha Bhuchar (Jyoti Virdee), and Kulvinder Ghir (Ranjit Virdee).
PODCASTS/RADIO/AUDIO
Katie McLain Horner and Kendra Winchester recommended crime fiction and nonfiction books for Black History Month on the Read or Dead podcast.
John Charles was in conversation with authors Susan Elizabeth Phillips (And the Crowd Went Wild) and Susan Walter (Murder at 30,000 Feet) on the Poisoned Pen podcast.
On Crime Time FM, Howard Linskey chatted with host Paul Burke about Howard's new novel, Muse Of Fire; love of Shakespeare and the Globe; picking up a theatre and moving it across the river, and more.
The Outliers University Get to Know podcast featured Nicholas Harvey, author of the AJ Bailey Adventure and Nora Sommer Caribbean Suspense series, and Douglas Pratt, author of the Chase Gordon Tropical Thriller and Max Sawyer books. On a separate Get to Know episode, hosts DP Lyle and Kathleen Antrim were in conversation with best-selling author Linda Castillo, a Sue Grafton Award nominee and author of the Kate Burkholder series, set in the world of the Amish.
House of Mystery Radio interviewed Humphrey Hawksley, author of the Major Rake Ozenna thrillers.
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