David Morrissey to Star in BBC Two Adaptation of The City & the City

David Morrissey (The Missing, The Walking Dead) is attached to play Inspector Tyador Borlú in the BBC Two adaptation of China Miéville’s novel The City & the City.

Tony Grisoni (The Young Pope, Southcliffe, The Red Riding Trilogy) is adapting the fantasy novel as a four-part thriller in a production made by Mammoth Screen. In the story, the body of a foreign student is discovered in the streets of the run-down city of Besźel. Inspector Borlú and the team at the Extreme Crime Squad uncover evidence that the dead girl had come from another city called Ul Qoma—a city that has complicated ties with Besźel.

Morrissey said: “I am delighted to be working with the brilliant Tony Grisoni again on this exciting project. I am a huge fan of the original book by China Miéville.”

Miéville commented: “It’s been fascinating and moving to witness the translation from fiction to script, and to work with Tony (Grisoni) and Tom (Shankland) and everyone on this production. What they’re making feels both familiar, sending me right back to the book, and yet very much their own, something I’m eager to discover. I’m extremely impatient for it!”

Piers Wenger, the controller of BBC Drama, added: “The City & the City is a truly extraordinary story and Tony Grisoni and Tom Shankland’s vision of it is as humane as it is skillful. I’m delighted that we have such a brilliant cast led by David Morrissey and a production team that have come together to make this distinctive drama for BBC Two.”

Executive producer Preethi Mavahalli said: “Set in divided cities where communities live cheek by jowl, choosing what they see, and ‘unsee’, this is a story that explores the way we live together today. The City & the City is a noir thriller with a fantastical twist which will quite literally break boundaries with its unique take on the murder mystery.”