A contemporary, true-crime drama…
Bonafide Films, the production company the award winning production MOOD, is developing an original, contemporary, true-crime drama based on research from exceptional access to the real people at the UK’s foremost agency working against serious and organised crime.
Nick Leather:
“Spending time within the NCA, digging into this landmark operation and finding out what and who is right at its heart, has been an absolute delight. This is one of the great success stories of modern policing – how the best of British came together to bring down the worst. And I can’t wait to tell it.”
BAFTA winning writer Nick Leather (Murdered for Being Different, Nightsleeper) is attached to write the series which will reveal the inner workings of the National Crime Agency, through a thrilling, high-octane initial story that focuses on the 2020 infiltration of the encrypted phone-system ‘EncroChat’ and how it gave them a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to decimate the criminal underworld.
With a ticking clock, a huge secret to keep hidden and in the face of unprecedented challenges, the NCA ultimately delivered the biggest, most successful law enforcement operation in UK history. There have been more than 3,400 arrests including almost 13,300 years of combined sentencing so far, and is still ongoing.
Leather won a Best Single Drama BAFTA for the moving, true-crime drama Murdered for Being Different, and is also behind the acclaimed factual drama Mother’s Day starring Anna Maxwell Martin and Vicky McLure, and last year’s hit BBC thriller Nightsleeper.
He and Bonafide’s Executive Producer, Tom Dunbar, (The Walk-In, The Reckoning) have been allowed extraordinary access for a drama production company to senior NCA officers who led the response to EncroChat’s takedown.
Tom Dunbar:
“We’re delighted to be working with the immensely talented Nick on this ground breaking project that will reveal some incredible characters and thrilling stories at the UK’s equivalent of the FBI. We’re hugely grateful for the access the NCA has given us, and recognise the careful path we need to tread in order to show the world some of what they do without giving away trade secrets.
“Some of these people are everyday heroes who are protecting the public from serious and organised crime and we want to highlight the incredible activity going on just below the surface and how shockingly advanced and mercenary the criminal underworld truly is.”
Bonafide Films are in discussion with a number of broadcast platforms interested in the drama.
The as yet untitled project is the latest in a strong development slate from Margery Bone’s esteemed production company, that have distinctive, authored voices at its heart and sees a number of acclaimed writers working with Bonafide Films including 2025 BAFTA nominee Peter Straughan (Conclave) who is writing Folio; a feature screenplay inspired by the true story of the assembly of Shakespeare’s first folio, and multi-award winning Peter Moffat (Criminal Justice) who is adapting Jonathan Freedland’s non-fiction bestseller, The Escape Artist.
Led by MD Margery Bone, Bonafide Films has an investment and distribution deal with BBC Studios.
