McMafia Adds To Cast List

Further casting has been added to a new BBC One drama, McMafia. The eight-part series is based on Misha Glenny's best-selling book, and has been created by Hossein Amini and James Watkins.

McMafia follows Alex Godman's (James Norton) journey as he is drawn ever deeper into the criminal world. Godman is the English-raised son of Russian exiles with a mafia history. He has spent his life trying to escape the shadow of their criminal past by building his own legitimate business and forging a life with his girlfriend Rebecca. However, when his family's past returns to threaten them, Alex is forced to confront his values in order to protect the ones he loves. A story of survival and revenge turns into an epic tale of a man's battle against the lures of corruption in the modern world and in himself.

Norton is joined for the series by David Strathairn as Semiyon Kleiman, a well-connected Israeli businessman; Faye Marsay as Katya, Alex's sister; and Juliet Rylance as Alex's strong-willed and morally upright British girlfriend, Rebecca. The drama also stars Aleksey Serebryakov as Dimitri, Alex's father and the exiled head of the Russian mafia, and Maria Shukshina as Oksana, Alex's socialite mother.

McMafia is co-produced by the BBC, AMC and Cuba Pictures, in association with Twickenham Studios. It is distributed internationally by BBC Worldwide. Nick Marston, Dixie Linder, Ben Hall, and Robyn Slovo are Executive Producers for Cuba Pictures, Matthew Read for BBC One and Hossein Amini, James Watkins and Misha Glenny. The producer is Paul Ritchie.

The writing team is led by Hossein Amini and James Watkins and includes David Farr, Peter Harness and Laurence Coriat. James Watkins will direct all eight episodes.

Filming will take place in London, Russia and Croatia.

Nick Marston, CEO, Cuba Pictures, said: "It is tremendously exciting to be producing this series and working with great partners, the BBC, AMC and BBC Worldwide. We want to make a show which can stand out from the crowd for its originality, character depth and contemporary resonance. Luckily, Hossein Amini, James Watkins and the top-class writing team, inspired by Misha Glenny's ground-breaking book, have delivered scripts of the first order. With James Watkins directing the whole series and James Norton heading a perfect cast, we couldn't be in better hands to realise the immense promise of this show."

www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre

(JP/MH)