David Farnor | On 14, Dec 2020

Rowan Atkinson,·Joe Barton, Joe Cornish and Sophie Petzal are leading a wave of new UK commissions from Netflix.

The streaming giant has increasing invested in content produced on UK soil, thanks to the success of The Crown and Sex Education as well as Top Boy. Seven new productions have now been given the green light, hailing from a range of star names and rising star talent.

Most notably, perhaps, is the arrival of Rowan Atkinson at the streamer. He will play a new character in Man vs Bee, a comedy that follows – surprisingly – a man at war with a bee while housesitting a luxurious mansion. Who will win, and what irreparable damage will be done in the process? Netflix has ordered 10 episodes of 10 minutes each.

The Red Zone, from writers Barney Ronay and Jonathan Liew and exec-producer Sam Mendes, is a comedy about football, but also not about football. Mainly it’s a story about the people and the surfaces that collide in the orbit of this strange world of bluffers, sharks and genuine talent.

Cuckoo Song is a gripping horror story about two warring sisters – one human, one monster – who must unite to reverse a supernatural pact gone horribly wrong, and with it mend their grief-stricken family. Based on the novel by Frances Hardinge, it’s adapted by Sarah Dollard (Doctor Who, Being Human), Andrea Gibb (Elizabeth Is Missing) and Corinna Faith (The Innocents).

Baby Reindeer hails from comedian Richard Gadd, who had a hit success in 2019 with his one-man show of the same name at the Edinburgh Fringe. Based on a true story, it follows the writer/performer’s warped relationship with his female stalker and the impact it has on him as he is ultimately forced to face a deep, dark buried trauma.

Half Bad, produced by Andy Serkis’ Imaginarium, is written by Giri/Haji creator Joe Barton. It follows Nathan, tThe illegitimate son of the world’s most feared witch, who has spent his whole life being monitored for signs he may follow the same destructive path as his father. An angsty, roller-coaster ride of a young adult show.

The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is written by Sophie Petzal, the breakout talent behind Channel 5’s Blood. It brings a mind-bending murder mystery that presents an intriguing puzzle – how do you solve a murder when every time you are getting close to the answer, you wake up in someone else’s body?

From writer/lead director Joe Cornish, Lockwood & Co is a supernatural action adventure about a tiny, ghost-hunting London startup run by two teenage boys and a newly arrived, supremely psychically gifted girl.

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