#SmallScreenScenes @sundance_now Highly Recommended by #WhomYouKnow @ManhattanPeachy #PeachyDeegan LITVINENKO STARRING DAVID TENNANT DEBUTS FRIDAY, DECEMBER 16 ON AMC+ AND SUNDANCE NOW
It's not who you know, it's Whom You Know and though we never knew Alexander Litvinenko, his solitary determination to do what is good and right in the world makes us want to know him in memory, and you should too. AMC and Sundance have come out with a clearcut winner in Litvinenko, and we only wish Agatha Christie were still alive to see the true tale of someone that was murdered live long enough to talk about it.
Being a critic of Putin has deadly consequences, and in this high-quality dense series of four episodes the whistleblower concept is executed flawlessly through excellent acting and a stellar script. We liked the line in Episode Two: "This is London. The only thing anyone is interested in here is themselves." It's of utmost importance that Americans are returned to America like U.S. Marine Paul Whelan.
We shall not give too much away, but will tell you this will consume your thoughts and your mind until you see all four episodes in their entirety. We publish on a lot of shows but get behind few as strongly as we do this one. Shadiness and lying are front and center here in Litvinenko, and for the non-espionage world, this series is eye-opening, top drama and a total must-see. Bravo.
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AMC+ and Sundance Now revealed the December 16 premiere date for four-part drama Litvinenko, Highly Recommended by Whom You Know, starring Emmy winner and series co-executive producer David Tennant (Des, Broadchurch) as Alexander Litvinenko. The series is based on the true story of the police investigation into the poisoning of former Russian spy Litvinenko in 2006. The iconic photograph taken of Litvinenko in his hospital bed generated international headlines before he died, and his death triggered one of the most complex and dangerous investigations in the history of the UK’s Metropolitan Police. All four episodes of the series will premiere Friday, December 16 exclusively on AMC+ and Sundance Now.
Written by acclaimed screenwriter George Kay (Lupin, The Criminal), the series starts in November 2006 - when Alexander Litvinenko (Tennant), a former Russian Federal Security Services and KGB officer, lies in a London hospital bed, with his condition deteriorating rapidly. Detectives are summoned to take his statement – he claims to have been poisoned on the direct orders of Russian President, Vladimir Putin. During the police interviews, Litvinenko provides meticulous details about the events leading up to his illness, which he knew would prove fatal. He dies just a few days later on November 23, surrounded by his family.
When it’s confirmed that Litvinenko had been poisoned with polonium-210 – a highly toxic radioactive substance – the gravity of the situation becomes clear. Facing an unprecedented chemical attack in the heart of London, the police race to seal off potentially contaminated sites, while detectives plunge into a high-stakes murder investigation, tracking their elusive suspects from London to Moscow. In a shadowy world of political power games and fragile international relations, Litvinenko is the story of the determined New Scotland Yard Officers who worked to prove who was responsible for the death of Alexander Litvinenko. It also focuses on Marina Litvinenko (Margarita Levieva, The Deuce, The Blacklist), who fought tirelessly to persuade the British Government to publicly name her husband’s killers and acknowledge the role of the Russian State in his murder.
Litvinenko is produced with the support of many of the key individuals involved in the investigation and subsequent public enquiry including former New Scotland Yard officers, Clive Timmons (portrayed by Mark Bonnar, Catastrophe, Quiz) and Brent Hyatt (portrayed by Neil Maskell, Small Axe, Utopia), along with Ben Emmerson QC (portrayed by Stephen Campbell Moore, War of the Worlds) and Alexander’s family. The series is directed by Jim Field Smith (Criminal, Truth Seekers) and was filmed on location in and around London.
A Sundance Now Original series, Litvinenko is executive produced by Patrick Spence for ITV Studios (A Spy Among Friends, Ralph & Katie), Josephine Zapata Genetay for NENT Group, Lucy Bedford for Tiger Aspect Productions (Three Little Birds, Viewpoint, The Good Karma Hospital), George Kay, Jim Field Smith and David Tennant. The co-Producer is Richard Kerbaj for Livedrop Media (Hunting the KGB Killers, Unmasking Jihadi John: Anatomy of a Terrorist) and the drama has been produced by Chris May.
EPISODE SYNOPSES:
EPISODE 1 - November, 2006. Two Police officers are summoned to University College Hospital in London to interview Alexander Litvinenko, a former Russian spy and Kremlin critic, who claims to have been poisoned on the direct orders of Vladimir Putin.
EPISODE 2 - Watched by the world, the Metropolitan Police follow the radioactive trail of Polonium across London, leading them to their main suspects, Andrey Lugovoy and Dmitry Kovtun.
EPISODE 3 - A team of detectives, led by Brian Tarpey travel to Moscow to interview Lugovoy and Kovtun, now the prime suspects behind Litvinenko’s murder.
EPISODE 4 - When the investigation fails to bring about extradition of Lugovoy and Kovtun, Marina begins an eight-year battle to seek justice for her husband’s murder.
About AMC+
AMC+ is the company’s new premium streaming bundle featuring an extensive lineup of popular and critically acclaimed original programming from AMC, BBC America, IFC, and SundanceTV and full access to targeted streaming services Shudder, Sundance Now and IFC Films Unlimited, which feature content such as A Discovery of Witches, Creepshow, and Boyhood. The service features a continually refreshed library of commercial-free content, including iconic series from the AMC Networks portfolio including Mad Men, Halt & Catch Fire, Hell on Wheels, Turn: Washington’s Spies, Rectify, Portlandia, and series from The Walking Dead Universe, among many others. The service also offers a growing slate of original and exclusive series including Gangs of London, Kin, The North Water, That Dirty Black Bag, This is Going to Hurt, Moonhaven and the first two series in a new Anne Rice universe, Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire and Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches. With new movies released every Friday, AMC+ is the newest destination for exclusive film premieres direct from theaters all year long. AMC+ recently launched in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India, and Spain and is available in the U.S. through AMCPlus.com, the AMC+ app, and a number of digital and cable partners.
About Sundance Now
AMC Networks’ Sundance Now offers cross-genre escapism for insightful viewers seeking fresh perspectives, thought-provoking experiences and transportive journeys to far-off places. With a rich selection of engrossing dramas and romance, imaginative fantasy, gripping mysteries, to riveting true crime and intelligent thrillers, Sundance Now programming features empowered characters telling one-of-a-kind of stories from around the world – all streaming commercial-free. Sundance Now houses critically-acclaimed and award-winning original and streaming exclusive series including popular supernatural thriller A Discovery of Witches (Matthew Goode, Teresa Palmer), highly anticipated UK adaptation of the French hit Call My Agent!, Ten Percent, (Jack Davenport, Jim Broadbent), multi-Emmy winner State of the Union (Rosamund Pike, Chris O’Dowd; Patricia Clarkson, Brendan Gleeson), glamourous coastal drama Riviera (Julia Stiles), incomparably clever comedy Back (David Mitchell, Robert Webb), British true crime thriller Des (David Tennant), hit mystery The Drowning (Jill Halfpenny), French spy drama The Bureau, Australian psychological thriller The Secrets She Keeps (Laura Carmichael), acclaimed Swedish drama The Restaurant, British thriller The Cry (Jenna Coleman), Liar (Joanne Froggatt, Ioan Gruffudd), Motherland (Anna Maxwell Martin, Lucy Punch, Joanna Lumley), and Total Control (Rachel Griffiths, Deborah Mailman), to name a few; alongside riveting true crime series including The Night Caller, Secrets of a Psychopath, The Suspect, The Dakota Entrapment Tapes, The Preppy Murder: Death in Central Park, No One Saw a Thing and Killing for Love featuring the Amanda Knox podcast.
