EXCLUSIVE: Ex-Bad Robot TV boss Ben Stephenson set up his own transatlantic indie more than two years ago and the move is beginning to bear fruit.
The former BBC drama controller’s Poison Pen Studios has landed ITV drama Adultery, we can reveal, which is being penned by BAFTA-winning Fool Me Once scribe Danny Brocklehurst. Casting will be unveiled soon.
In Adultery, the audience is immediately introduced to Tom and his 15-year-old daughter Jess, who has found love with schoolmate Ollie, and the pair can’t take their hands off one another. When Tom meets Ollie’s mum Beth in the most unexpected of circumstances, the two families’ lives are potentially turned upside down forever. The show “raises questions about class, grief and the effects of social media,” according to ITV.
Having worked on hits like Westworld, Stephenson left J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot in summer 2022 and launched the ITV Studios-backed, London and L.A.-based Poison Pen several months later, signing up big name UK drama execs such as Sky’s Preethi Mavahalli. After a period of quiet, Adultery is Poison Pen’s debut commission. Stephenson is a former BBC drama controller whose credits at the corporation included Luther, Sherlock and Line of Duty. His name has cropped up in TV industry circles in recent weeks as an outside bet to become BBC content chief once Charlotte Moore departs to Sony.
Stephenson said he is “so happy” to be able to announce Adultery, as he questioned whether there is “anyone as in tune with the audience” as Brocklehurst and ITV drama boss Polly Hill.
Brocklehurst is coming off the back of a strong year during which Harlan Coben’s Fool Me Once went gangbusters on Netflix. A second season of his BBC-Stan series Ten Pound Poms is launching soon. His previous ITV series was 2022’s Sheridan Smith-starrer No Return.
Hill added: “Danny’s brilliant scripts will have an audience hooked into this adulterous story from the start. At its heart though it’s about love and I’m excited to have an addictive love story on ITV, and to be working with Danny and Ben and the team at Poison Pen Studios.”
Adultery was commissioned by Hill and will be executive produced by Stephenson, Mavahalli, Luke Woellhaf and Brocklehurst. Filming starts in Manchester later this year. ITV Studios is selling around the world.
