Philip Barantini’s single-shot UK film Boiling Point is to return as a BBC One series from the same creative team as the feature.
Consisting of five 60-minute episodes, the Boiling Point series will begin filming early next year, and will launch on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
The series will pick up six months on from where the film left off. It will see sous chef Carly – played by Vinette Robinson – as head chef at her own restaurant, with many of the film’s original cast reprising their roles alongside her, including Stephen Graham as Andy and Hannah Walters as Emily.
While not employing the single-shot format of the film, the series will aim to replicate a similar natural style through its cinematography, including long shots.
Barantini, who co-wrote and directed the film, will direct the first two episodes of the series, with the film’s co-writer James Cummings writing four episodes and Dan Cadan writing one. Shaheen Baig is casting the series, with casting associate Jonny Boutwood.
Hester Ruoff and Bart Ruspoli of Ascendant Fox return as executive producers, having produced the film. Walters and Graham are executive producers for Matriarch Productions, with Barantini for Made Up Productions, Rebecca Ferguson for the BBC, and James Cummings.
Graham Drover, a first assistant director on UK independent features including Funny Cow, Cordelia and Rose, will be the series producer.
BBC Studios will handle international distribution on the series.
“The show delves into the heart of the restaurant and hospitality industry where just about anything can happen between the starter and the main,” said Ruspoli and Ruoff, who merged their respective companies Ascendant Films and Burton Fox Films earlier this year.
“The incredible reaction to the film, its story and specifically the characters along with the huge desire to know more and delve deeper into their worlds has led us to create a drama series with the BBC,” said Walters and Graham. “Although we have hung up our feature-length one-shot boots, our audiences can still be excited by extraordinarily lengthy shots and camera techniques that will complement the pure naturalism that was the essence and soul of the film.”
Social realism
The duo described returning to Boiling Point as “a rollercoaster of feelings and emotions, but a rollercoaster you will want to keep getting back on. Our aim is to make powerful drama which reflects social realism, raising real-life issues which have an effect on each and every one of us.”
It marks a first collaboration with the BBC for actor-turned-filmmaker Barantini, for whom Boiling Point was his second feature after 2020 thriller Villain. The director, who is nominated for breakthrough British director at the Big Screen Awards as one of a leading six nominations for the film, said it was “an absolute dream” to be reuniting the Boiling Point team.
“When we made the Boiling Point feature film, there were so many ideas left on the whiteboard that it always felt like a possibility we would come back to this world,” added Cummings. “The response to our film has been incredible and hearing the way it has resonated with people in the hospitality industry has been nothing short of amazing.
“Restaurants are an intersection of different people from different backgrounds, all dealing with a variety of social issues - and I am so proud to be using our series as a vehicle to tell those stories with a cast of characters that we have already fallen in love with. Food will fly and tears will fall!”
Dancing Ledge Productions producer Ferguson joined the BBC Drama commissioning team in August, having been series producer on crime series The Responder, in which Barantini starred and directed a first-season episode. “The opportunity to expand this break-out hit into five new unmissable episodes of television was too good to miss,” said Ferguson.
Inspired by Barantini’s own experiences working in restaurants, the Boiling Point film premiered at Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in August 2021. Sold by Charades, it was distributed by Vertigo Releasing in the UK and Ireland from January 7 this year, grossing £518,559.
It received joint-most nominations at the 2021 Bifas with 11, winning four, including best supporting actress for Robinson, best casting for Carolyn McLeod, best cinematography for Matthew Lewis and best sound for James Drake, Rob Entwistle and Kiff McManus.
It then received four Bafta nominations, including outstanding British film and leading actor for Graham.
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