In 2006, the world watched a man predict his own murder. The case of Alexander Litvinenko has never properly left public consciousness, and has now been dramatised into the fourt-part ITVX drama of the same name. FILMHOUNDS sat down with series writer George Kay to discuss Britishness, working with Marina Litvinenko, and getting COVID the day your new drama has its press premiere at BAFTA HQ.
Why this story? I was thinking about it as I was watching the first episode, and I feel like the Alexander Litvinenko story is something everyone is so aware of. It's almost one of those events where you feel like you knew where you were when it happened.
Well, I think that one of the incredible things it's a very international story. That ultimate Cold War thriller, but told over a very British cup of tea. We have this incredibly complex crime that started that whole story, and it happened on a British High Street. As a British screenwriter writing for a British Channel, I wanted to see how close to home these things can actually get for anyone watching — especially when Litvinenko was poisoned with polonium. The police didn't know if anyone had been into that restaurant or brushed against him on the tube. So suddenly, the actions of a leader of a foreign state could be putting everyday Brits at risk. Those that are just coming home from work or going about their shopping, or whatever it might be. So that's what really hooked me. Because we think these stories happen to other people in other places, but this is right at the heart of the UK and asks questions about the British in terms of their relationships and their courage. All of that felt unique and felt really important. And as I was writing, it only got more and more important. At the time of this going on ITVX, it couldn't feel more relevant really, because of the events in Ukraine.
Yeah, exactly. I mean, it's a huge story as well, and you're working in that really nice and palatable four-episode arc. How do you decide how to structure what you want to tackle?
It felt like a very big, ambitious story, but in terms of drama, the key chapters of it happened over an increasingly long amount of time. So the very first episode, you've got this 18-hour deathbed interview that Sasha gave to Brent Hyatt, who was the first detective to believe his claims, let alone do anything about them. The next stage was the story told over a couple of weeks in which the British police had to then come to terms with who exactly was responsible, but also who else was at risk. That's led by Clive Timmons — he's played by Mark Bonner in the drama — so the baton is passed to him. And then we have a Russian story told over a number of weeks in the final episode, which takes the best part of a decade to finally get justice. Marina Litvinenko takes on the textbook pattern in that finale as the sort of last of the four detectives, if you think that the first detective in this murder is the victim. The next is the police, then the detectives in Russia, and then finally the wife of the deceased. It felt like the structure is like Russian dolls, as in they get bigger and bigger and bigger in terms of timeframe and scale. That always felt clear because of the emotional investment of the characters. It gathered up all of these amazing people. It was great to do a drama about the British police doing well and getting somewhere and being heroes.
Speaking about that, I feel like the true crime biopic — on ITV in particular — is a perfect partnership. I can't really think of, in terms of British drama, a place that does it as well as they do. Do you feel like it's the perfect home for what you wanted to do?
Yeah. I wanted to do it with real respect for those involved. I think everyone who does do those ITV true crime dramas does and tries not to sensationalise the story. Even though the stories themselves are so compelling and sensational, it's really important to try and get the backing of those who are involved. In our case, we had all of the police and all of Sasha's family — everyone was supportive of it. It works really well in terms of those that we cast, David, Mark, and Neil Maskell. Those are actors who know how to play mainstream drama of quality. So that relationship with ITV is fantastic, and they're very supportive. The producers are a part of ITV Studios, so we were co-production. That's a really nice collaboration. I think when you do those dramas, you talk about some other aspect of life, not just show a series of crimes and make them gory. You've got to be working, writing, and telling stories about other things. In our case, perseverance, standing up to the bully. A test of what Britishness is. It took a Russian widow to teach the British police about being British in this case.
So speaking of Marina, what was it like working with her? How did you approach her? We've spoken about we're not wanting to sensationalise things, but were you mindful of her wants while you were creating the series?
It was absolutely integral to the start of our process because I don't want to be writing a drama about the murder of someone's husband if they don't want it to happen. It'd be the worst thing to do. The respect that we gave to Marina was already evident in the respect that the police had for her. At any given point we could say to someone “Marina is buying this” or “Marina has given a blessing,” or the police during our investigation would say “Well, it's what Marina would want.” We can put our squabbles to one side and all unite behind that incredible woman. It worked whether you're detectives on the ground or the best QC's in London. She's an incredible woman and her perseverance and bravery in encouraging trying to get justice here is incredible.
How much of a hand do you have in casting? Do you go into a project like this and think “Right, I would love this person to be played by so-and-so” or “I'd love this person to be in my crew?” Or is it something that naturally evolves with a project as it grows?
For something like a four-part ITV drama, you want a central piece of casting — in this case, David. Sasha felt like the very first piece of casting we should try and secure, so Patrick Spence (our executive producer) sent the first draft of the first episode of Litvinenko to David's agents. He attached really early before there was a director and before there was a broadcaster, and that meant so much. Everyone knows how much the audience responds to David's work. But you cannot do any of this without knowing and feeling that they are the right fit for the project, to go back to our default thing of doing right by Marina Litvinenko. Whoever plays her husband has to be someone she's comfortable with, however big of a star they might be. So it was wonderful that everyone was on board with that, and David was able to come in and play Sasha. After that, it's about finding those that represent the spirit of the characters, and their integrity. In the case of Clive Timmons, the real charisma and outgoing personality that he had contrasted with the thoughtfulness and perseverance of someone like Brent. Sometimes it's about confounding our expectations. So you might know Neil from being in more ‘threatening' or frightening roles, but it was really great to have him play someone who was very considered. Brent is the first man to believe Sasha, the first man to promise the family that they would get justice.
What I really liked about Brent's character was seeing more of his domestic side — like him coming home from work and the interactions with his wife. How do you decide to inject that into the story?
I love the fact that this is an international drama, but every character that's involved has to have a personal version of the story to contend with themselves. So the greatest challenges we face might be, in plot terms, to do with catching brutal murderers of a Russian spy in Piccadilly. At the same time at home, you're going to have other challenges that you face that feel just as big to you. At work, certain things feel big, but at home, things always feel big. And so you look at a character like Brent Hyatt and try to tell a story that the audience can relate to. We've all got struggles at home, so our feelings about the struggles at work are things we're going to bring home with us. It's gonna affect our home life and kind of vice versa. So he learns lessons from his home life and he learns lessons from his workplace. I've always tried to draw a parallel between the private and professional lives of the character.
When you're researching or creating something like this, do you look to other works, like Lucy Prebble's A Very Expensive Poison or Channel 4 documentaries? Or is it more important to sideline that and focus on your own vision?
When it's very important to go right to the primary source, I think so. If you're Lucy Prebble doing that play or you're me doing this drama, I don't really imagine you want to go and look at their work for inspiration or to inform you. You've got to go to the real people who are involved in this story in this drama and are still around to be spoken to directly. So that was always the starting point. I wanted to tell the stories about the British characters and how they intersected with this story until the police show up. Really, this is a procedural story, hopefully with emotional truth. But yeah, you read books, you read articles, you watch documentaries. In the case of our show, Richard Kerbaj, who's our co-producer, made a documentary called Hunting The KGB Killers, which was for Channel 4. And that was part of our starting point in terms of access to the people that they really trusted him.
Did you still have COVID-related challenges or was it all something you were able to navigate?
It was filmed during COVID, so you have ongoing COVID restrictions. And COVID was happening at the time, so people were wearing masks… and central London is a very expensive place to film. It's the real restaurant that was used, Grosvenor Square was used. And as we were doing this, you realise London is such an international place. No wonder this happens. It's going to happen anywhere in the UK. It really felt like a place where you find a lot of Russian people in. We're all coming off the back of having to test every time things crossed the line into the set. There were bubbles and so on. But in a way for something like this, that's so intimate, so personal. Especially around the scenes with David in bed in the hospital. It felt right that we were limited in intimacy and careful about who we let close to those scenes.
In terms of a more general scope of your work, how do you manage to work on different things at once?
So I try and have a range of different tones. I have a series on Netflix called Lupin, which is much more fun and a family adventure — which is a brilliant place to be in your head. But then sometimes you think “Oh, I feel a bit more serious” and you might switch to something more straight-laced. Sometimes you want chips, right? And sometimes you want to go to a fancy restaurant. So it's just about managing your life. It's nice to have a real spectrum and I'm really lucky that I can do different projects and different genres.
Why do you think we as a viewing public — and in particular, I think the British public — have such a fascination with true crime? Do you think we're at a point with the genre now where the function of it needs to change to come away from that sensationalism? I would say we're at a place where it does, and I think Litvinenko pivots very well.
I can only talk about myself, and all I want to do is try and reflect society through story. So I think a society can be reflected very accurately through crimes and the attitudes to crimes, but not focus on the actual crime. I'm very interested in what triggers society and how we reflect our treatment toward crime. It's a massive Trojan horse to write about characters in society. And because it's quite an accelerated thing, a crime that shakes the community in whatever way suddenly causes real characters to emerge much more quickly. They say that about the Blitz — it's a great accelerant for people to get married quicker, and people fall out quicker. Everything is amplified. And through that amplification, you get the truth about who those characters are and who we are as a society. So that's why true crime really works because it asks us to contend with things that really changed the way we live. If it's done sensitively, it can be really powerful. If it's done in a sensationalist way, it can be offensive and misjudged. So it's all about our attitudes. The genre is incredibly legitimate and fulfilling if you do it the right way.
